If you are planning a trip to Goa for a winter break, well, Egypt may be cheaper!
Embarking on an aggressive marketing and promotional campaign in India, Egypt Tourism says, “Egypt is not expensive for Indian tourists.”
“On an average, a one-night stay in a three- or four-star hotel in Goa would be at least $200 but with that $200 you can spend two or three nights in Cairo!” Mr Samy Mahmoud, Under Secretary, Head of the international tourism sector, Egyptian Tourism Authority, told Business Line.
In fact, holiday packages to Egypt start from $1,000 and go up to $2,000 (Rs 44,000 to Rs 88,000) inclusive of air fare, he said.
Realising that Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand are still hot favourites among Indian travellers, Mr Mahmoud says the advantage with Egypt is that visitors can enjoy culture, entertainment and shopping “all together” at one place. Also, it takes five to six hours to travel to Cairo from India, which he says is almost the same as that to Malaysia or Singapore — close to five hours.
In 2009, 90,000 Indians visited Egypt. The country plans to host more than one lakh Indian tourists by the end of 2010. It is targeting seven lakh tourists in the next five years for which considerable amounts will be invested on advertising and promotional activities.
“In India we usually spend more than $7 lakh (Rs 3 crore) every year but for the next two or three years we would be spending more than $1million (Rs 4.4 crore),” said Mr Mahmoud.
Currently, India does not contribute much to Egypt's foreign tourist inflow, but the campaigns could change that, he says. The tourism authority feels that once the visitor count touches five to six lakh, India will rank 15th or 16th on Egypt's tourism source markets. As of now, among Asian countries, India is the second most important market after Japan. As for the pitch that Egypt will be using for Indian travellers, Mr Mahmoud says, “Egypt is not just the Pyramids”. Playing golf with the Pyramids in the background, places for wellness and spas, facilities for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions/Conference and Exhibitions/Events) travellers, adventure and safari also form a part of the Egypt experience, he said.
Despite awareness of Egypt as a destination being relatively low among Indians, Mr Mahmoud says the trend is changing. “We see that from the end of 2009 till September 2010, the average length of stay of Indians has gone up to nine nights from seven nights earlier.”
Helping Egyptian Tourism's plans, Egypt Air is also looking to increase its frequencies between Mumbai and Cairo, the only sector it serves from India at the moment. From November 2, the carrier will take its four weekly flights to five.
The airline also plans to add one more flight to its network from India by the end of 2011. Egypt Air is also evaluating connectivity from Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, said the airline's India General Manager, Mr Ahmed Wasfy.
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