Thaindian News

Mumbai, Oct 14 (IANS) Aiming to touch 100,000-plus arrivals from India in 2010 and increasing it to one million by 2015, Egypt ended a two-day road show for tour operators in India, an official said Thursday.

In the first nine months of this year, 77,610 Indians visited the land of pyramids and pharaohs. The figure is expected to cross the targeted 100,000 by December, Samy Mahmoud of the Egyptian Tourism Authority said.

“India is very important to us, both as a country and from the tourism point of view. By 2015, we expect nearly one million Indians will visit Egypt,” Mahmoud told a news conference.

One of the factors attracting Indian tourists to Egypt are Bollywood shootings in that country besides the promotional and marketing activities targeted at India, he said.

As part of the promotional, the Egypt Tourist Office and Egyptian Tourism Authority completed a two-day road show for 200 tour operators from all over the country in Mumbai Thursday.

Similar road shows will be held in other parts of India every year.

ETO Director Adel El Masry said his country was planning to attract 14 million global tourists by Dec. 2010 and increase that figure to 25 million by 2020.

“Tourism is very important for Egypt as it contributes upto 11 percent of the country’s GDP,” Masry said.

Bordered by the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Egypt is a diverse country full of ancient cultural treasures to explore and synonymous with the legends of the Pharaohs.