Tourism Ministry Announces Int'l Marketing, Promotion Partnerships

The Tourism Ministry announced on Monday its international marketing and promotion partnerships with major international branding and media companies.

Those companies are namely Beautiful Destinations, CNN, China's Ctrip, Discovery Channel, Expedia Group, and Isobar.

In this regard, Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat said: "We will work closely with our international partners to showcase our beautiful country to a wider range of audiences all over the world, with new innovative and competitive concepts of promotion, modern content and digital tools."

https://twitter.com/RaniaAlMashat/status/1171418178678939649

Al-Mashat noted that the content and tools would highlight the persity of Egypt's destinations and authenticity of the Egyptian traditions. And through the use of a data-driven approach, the ministry will create content tailored to audiences in various markets.

"The Tourism Ministry's international partnerships lie the three main components of the third pillar of the Egypt—Tourism Reform Program (E-TRP)," Al-Mashat pointed out.

[caption id="attachment_77667" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Dr. Rania Al-Mashat Delivers a Speech[/caption]

They are “GEM2020,” which promotes the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, “People to People” (P2P) campaign, which aims at portraying Egypt not only as a contemporary and prime touristic destination but also sheds light on the persity and authenticity of the Egyptian people.

Besides “Branding by Destination,” that creates an identity for each of Egypt’s unique destinations.

The announcement ceremony was attended by Jeremy Jauncey, the founder and CEO of Beautiful Destinations, Amanda Wang, the GM of Global Destinations Marketing & Sales in Ctrip Group, Amanda Turnbull, the vice president and general manager for the Middle East & Africa of Discovery, Director of Business Development, EMEA and India at Expedia Group Myriam Younes, and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network MENA “Isobar” Tarek Daouk.

Jauncey, during the event, said: "Working with Dr. Al-Mashat to bring the E-Trp to life has been a huge honor and we are extremely proud to have created the new brand for the Egyptian tourism," adding that the launch of the People to People campaign is just the start of Beautiful Destinations' commitment to Egypt and we can't wait to inspire the world to come and visit.

"We have been working together since the beginning of the year on a close partnership to develop the Egypt brand, data from target markets and the Beautiful Destinations community on social media. We have seen a fantastic response from travelers and content creators all over the world who are excited to visit Egypt and see all it has to offer," he added.

Meanwhile, CNN's Ibal said: "It excites me when we evolve a long-term relationship with a key partner into new and innovative areas. This new partnership takes our nation branding work with the Egyptian ministry to a new level by leveraging the cumulative impact of all CNN platforms, content and technology to ensure that Egypt's beauty and its people resonates deeply with the right audiences."

[caption id="attachment_77666" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Egypt's Tourism Partnerships[/caption]

Ctrip's Wang, on her part, pointed out: "We saw significant growth in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt. It is an attractive destination with the abundant tourism resource and characteristic culture, and the visa on arrival policy helped with market increase as well.

"Cairo was the most popular African city for Chinese tourists last year. Ctrip will work closely with the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, provide Chinese visitors with more rich and unique travel products," she added.

Meantime, Turnbull said: "We are delighted to further strengthen our long-standing relationship with Egypt as its only non-news network partner."

"Our expertise allows us to showcase many wonders of Egypt as part of our unprecedented factual entertainment offering," she further stated.

Younes of Expedia said: "Egypt has so much to offer visitors and we are thrilled to be working with the ministry to help meet the goals of its ambitious tourism program."

[caption id="attachment_77669" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat[/caption]

The campaign aims to drive demand in bookings and help in raising awareness of Egypt’s amazing regions and perse people to Expedia Group’s audience of highly engaged, international travel shoppers.

She noted that Expedia is looking forward to seeing some positive results from the campaign.

Isobar's Daouk said: "Travelers today demand seamless end-to-end experiences, seeking content that inspires them and experiences that motivate to travel based on a desire for social connections, adventure, and spontaneity”.

He added: "We look forward to working together to capture the hearts and minds of the world’s explorers looking for their next journey."