Second UNWTO International Conference on Tourism and Media in Marsa Alam

The conference will emphasize Egypt's pioneering position as a host to the most important historical, cultural, and artistic events in the region.

As a sign of the Egyptian tourism industry's continuous recovery; the Second World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Tourism and Media will begin on Thursday 26, April 2012 under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism- Egypt and Egyptian Tourist Authority in Egypt (ETA).

H.E. Mounir Fakhry Abd ElNour, Minister of Tourism of Egypt, and Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of UNWTO will be opening the conference, which will run until Friday 27th April. The event will include over 400 participants and officials from international organizations and tourism and media representatives from Arab countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Sudan and Egypt.

The conference will emphasize Egypt's pioneering position as a host to the most important historical, cultural, and artistic events in the region. Furthermore, it stresses on Egypt's standing as a favorable destination for tourists around the world. Titled "Working with the Media during Challenging Times;" the conference will highlight the role of tourism in media, and will review the practices of successful communication in addition to discussing the most important tools to achieve a clear vision on media and tourism communication. 

Commenting on Egypt's hosting of this important event, Amr El Ezaby, Chairman of ETA, welcomed all participants in this conference and praised the key role played by media to support and stimulate tourism in Egypt, where the Ministry of tourism and the ETA continue to host significant international conferences and meetings in the field of tourism. 

"The media has played a significant and effective role in developing and promoting the tourism culture to the public and the Arab world. We will continue to work on strengthening our bonds with the media to help develop our mechanisms of providing accurate information and delivering them in a timely manner. This will allow media outlets the ability to portray the true picture of Egypt's current situation and to broadcast accurate news thereby reinforcing their credibility. Furthermore, the Arab and international media have contributed in clarifying the true image of the situation in Egypt during the last couple of months, which was reflected in the growth of the number of tourists coming to that increased by 32% during the first quarter of 2012 compared with the first quarter of last year," El Ezaby said. 

El Ezaby added, "During the last period, ETA's strategy focused on the Arab markets including the UAE market for it has the ability to support the Egyptian tourism sector. In addition, the UAE media, in all its divisions, played an important role in promoting tourism in Egypt, which was clearly evident in the increase in numbers of Emirati visitors by 15.4% during the first quarter of this year." 

Moreover, the participants in the Second International Conference of UNWTO will seek to understand some of the pillars that illustrate the method adopted by media in its planning strategies. Additionally, the participants will examine the mechanisms that enable the tourism sector to have an active role in the media. Furthermore, the conference is scheduled to discuss the latest international best practices in the field of handling and dealing with the media during periods of crisis, which offers positive support for the efforts made to overcome them. Also, ways to own and establish more effective relations with the bodies and tourism authorities with different mass media will also be discussed.

In line with strengthening its position as one of the most important tourist destinations in the region and around the world, ; Egypt participated as a partner in the opening ceremony of "ITB Berlin International 2012" exhibition, one of the most significant global events in the field of tourism.