Arabnews24.ca:Friday 3 February 2023 10:31 AM:
By Mohamed Attia
The Ministry of Civil Aviation, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Pilot Mohamed Abbas, seeks to increase visitor numbers by 30 per cent annually as it pushes to hit 30 million tourists by 2028.
The new strategy to revitalise the tourism sector, battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, includes more than doubling the number of hotel rooms, increasing the number of plane seats, and improving the overall visitor experience.
Minister Abbas stressed the importance of reaching 30 million tourists and attracting more air and tourist traffic to Egyptian tourist destinations through incentive programmes, which boost the national economy and keep pace with the Egypt Vision 2030 for achieving comprehensive development goals.
He referred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s plan, which aims to increase air and tourism traffic to Egypt by solving all obstacles facing Egyptian and non-Egyptian airlines and allowing all charter flights with low costs to land at all Egyptian airports except for Cairo International Airport, which is considered a hub.
Abbas noted that the aviation sector is one of the main axes in the success of economic development plans, stressing the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s keenness to enhance the private sector’s role in various air transport projects.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has also taken a raft of measures to revitalise the air and tourism movement within the framework of coordination between the ministries of civil aviation and tourism and antiquities, establishing mechanisms to link coastal tourist resorts with archaeological sites, and launching several revitalising initiatives, according to Minister Abbas.
The cabinet approved the Ministry of Civil Aviation request regarding extending the exemption of foreign airlines from the fees until April 30, 2023, for all world countries.
Abbas also reviewed the most important facilities provided by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and comparing landing fees at Egyptian airports with a number of airports of neighbouring countries and European states, which showed that these fees decreased by a large percentage in the airports of tourist attractions in Egypt than their counterparts in these respective countries.
Minister Abbas confirmed that his ministry would continue to provide more incentives to airlines, in addition to developing the airport system and improving the quality of passenger services, whether upon arrival or departure.
As for the national air carrier, EgyptAir, a member of the Global Star Alliance, Abbas stressed that his ministry has drawn up an overall plan to increase its air fleet and expand its air network. The ministry is also working on increasing low-cost flights and seat capacity with the chief aim of reinvigorating tourism movement.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis, which slowed the air and tourism movement, the civil aviation sector was able to confront such challenges thanks to the directives of the political leadership, which gives the aviation sector great interest, the minister said.
Meanwhile, Cairo International Airport received a few weeks ago the first flight carrying a group of Chinese tourists since the outbreak of Covid-19. The Sichuan Airlines flight came from China’s Chengdu city with 137 passengers on board, including 28 tourists.
Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering Company, Yehia Zakaria, said that there are requests from about 1,200 China tour operators and travel companies to organise tourist trips to Egypt.
The number of weekly flights between Egypt and China would rise to 13 as next month. Seven flights will be to Guangzhou, three to Hangzhou, and three to Beijing, according to Eng. Zakaria.
In the meantime, Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport received last month the first flight powered by Alexandria Airlines, coming from Ahmedabad Airport in India, with 367 passengers on board, for the purpose of holding a wedding ceremony in the Red Sea resort city.
This event is a promising beginning to attract a new type of tourism in Egypt, which is the revitalisation of wedding-based tourism.
This type of tourism is famous in both Turkey and Dubai because of its economic returns, as the size of the wedding market in the Middle East reaches 4.5 billion dollars annually, according to the Egyptian Company for Airports and Air Navigation.
Air Cairo, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has opened its new airline between Casablanca/Alexandria. The service will go operational as of March 17, with two flights per week on Fridays and Wednesdays. The move came as part of the company’s plan to expand its network of routes to serve the largest number of customers and reach more external and internal destinations.
It is also meant to serve the Moroccan Umrah performers and pilgrims, in addition to operating flights from Casablanca to visit tourist sites in Egypt.
