Tourism Minister, JATA Chief Tackle Organizing Trips to Egypt

Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat discussed on Saturday with Chairman Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Hiromi Tagawa aspects of cooperation and ways to attract more Japanese tourists to Egypt.

On the sidelines of the Tourism Expo Japan 2019 , Tagawa said: "Egypt is one of the main destinations which JATA seeks to organize trips to," noting that the Japanese tourist pays great attention to the cultural tourism and grand passion for the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Tagawa pointed out that he is looking forward to getting more acknowledged about Egypt's tourism sector and more cooperation with the Egyptian Tourism Ministry in the coming period.

[caption id="attachment_87052" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Dr. Al Mashat and Ahmed Youssef during Meeting with JATA Officials[/caption]

Meantime, Al-Mashat hailed the deeply-rooted relations between Cairo and Tokyo, pointing the current cooperation aspects between the two countries like the Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open in 2020.

Al-Mashat invited the association to organize trips to GEM after its inauguration, referring to its unique location to the pyramids and being nearby from Sphinx Airport, a matter which creates opportunities to visit the pyramids and other tourist destinations.

The minister lauded the increase in the number of Japanese tourists visiting Egypt which reached 38.2% from January till September compared to the same period in 2018, pointing out that Tokyo tops the Japanese cities where tourists come to Egypt followed by Osaka and Hokkaido.

During the meeting, she talked about the successes which the tourism sector achieved since the implementation of the Egypt-Tourism Reform Program (E-TRP).

[caption id="attachment_87053" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tourism Minister Presents a Souvenir to JATA Chairman[/caption]

In February, the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) hosted a Japanese delegation which included 10 representatives of JATA and Japanese tour operators, accompanied by a Japanese delegation in which they toured Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Hurghada, and Sharm El Sheikh.

Also, the ministry hosted a group of Japanese youth from Hiroshima, Okayama, and Himi who suffered from the consequences of floods in July 2018.

ETA Chairman Ahmed Youssef and Deputy Chief of the Diplomatic Mission in Tokyo Minister Plenipotentiary Hany el Nashar attended the meeting as well as Japanese tourism officials.

Tourism Expo Japan is being held in Osaka from October 24 to 27.