Moment of Truth.. What‘s Next After Egypt's Success in Hosting AFCON

By: Elham Aboul Fateh

Congratulations to Egypt and to the Egyptians on the successful organization of Africa Cup of Nations tournament this year.  The tournament emerged in its finest with a wonderful opening ceremony and a spectacular closing ceremony. We proved to the world that Egypt could achieve miracles.

When President Abdel Fattah El Sisi decided to host 2019 African Nations Cup, we were anxious about how to organize such a big tournament in only 4 months, the mission seemed to be difficult. However, I was confident that Egypt is able to host this tournament as president El Sisi is always racing against time since he decided to dig and inaugurate the new Suez canal in just one year in addition to digging the six tunnels contributing to the reconstruction of Sinai.

When the president took the office, Egypt was boycotted by many countries of the world, but he was able to restore its prestige and status as a leader in the continent and the region, Egypt also became an influential country in the world.

Moreover, the president continued the challenge when he waged a fierce war against terrorism, and succeeded in his mission. He also decided to embrace economic reform to take us to a new safe era.

President El Sisi also showed great success in hosting Africa Cup of Nations tournament, 24 African teams, for the first time, participated in the tournament.

We prepared 6 stadiums to host the tournament, in addition to the training stadiums. The fans also were able to attend the matches to support their teams via Tazkarti, the company responsible for the ticketing process.

Tazkarti Marketing services company is expected to be the reason for returning of fans to the stadiums, hence Egyptian soccer could restore its spirit ,  success and well-being. The whole world made sure that Egypt and the Egyptian security were able to secure the tournament.

Thanks to this tournament, Egypt achieved many gains represented in the  good reputation in the organization and hosting of major events as well as security and safety that enable it to secure and protect its guests; it also  embraced  its visitors to enjoy the oldest civilization in the world and tour its cities freely..

We should make use of these elements in the coming period to promote tourism, especially through the photos that fans and players took in our shores and besides our antiquities, in addition to the warm hospitality they received.

When we decided to host the tournament we did not think about the winning of our team, but we were thinking about how our country can achieve gains. We have seen President El Sisi attending the opening ceremony and some of matches. Some of officials, along with the Prime Minister attended the opening and closing ceremonies and matches among the fans.

We hosted hundreds of thousands of fans from all African countries, in a number of cities equipped with stadiums , a large number of hotels, and means of transportation to transport guests.

Now, following the conclusion of the  tournament  that has brought back to Egypt its sporting spirit and confirmed the strength of its youth and its ability to make the impossible possible, we have to think about how to make use of this success and the unprecedented enthusiasm shown by the Egyptians.

We should  bring our young people into a new challenge represented in a huge national project such as tourism.

Congratulations to Egypt on the wonderful organization, and congratulations to the Algerian brothers on being crowned Africa Cup of Nations champion.