Tourism promotion starts from World Cup: study

CAIRO – 13 June 2018: “The World Cup in Russia is to be considered not only a sporting event, but one to promote Egypt as a tourist destination,” Mohamed Attia Ahmed, a member of the Technical Office of the Ministry of Tourism and a researcher in the Department of Business and World Heritage, said in a recent study he conducted.

Ahmed confirmed in the study that the tourism sector must make use of the Egyptian national football team's participation in the World Cup to promote all forms of tourism, not the least of which is sports tourism.


Egyptian national team official jet – Press photo

The researcher also said that sports tourism can generate a lot of revenues to the country, which is why travel and tourism agencies have been intensifying their advertising resources to benefit from this great sporting event.

According to the study conducted by the researcher, it is necessary to benefit from the idea of Egyptians traveling to Russia during the World Cup by distributing propaganda brochures and souvenirs to foreigners in Russia.

Also, Egyptians must show an urban appearance that reflects the original Egyptian heritage, such as wearing the Pharaonic garb to attract people’s attention, the study added.

On the other hand, it is possible to make use of the Egyptian national team in promoting Egyptian tourism by having the plane and buses of the Egyptian team themed with pictures of the pyramids, the Sphinx and Pharaonic temples as means of propaganda.


The Egyptian national football team upon arrival to Russia for World Cup 2018 on June 10, 2018 - Press photo/FIFA official Facebook page

The Saudi Arabian team did the same by using a falcon image on their jersey, and the Cameroonian team had a lion's face on theirs.

The study also called for the need to communicate with many international sports celebrities to analyze the sports of the World Cup such as the jewel of Brazil Pele, the Argentine legend Maradona and the French star Zinedine Zidane to involve them in advertising campaigns for Egyptian tourism in Russia.

The study also pointed to establishing a number of events in popular Russian hotels and museums to showcase Ancient Egypt civilization.

The head of the hotel department of the Russian Ministry of Sports and Tourism announced that Russia will see an inflow of more than 21 million tourists in 2018, including one million football fans, so it will be a great opportunity for Egypt to promote tourism to its touristic destinations.

The World Cup will witness a crowd of about 10 million fans and nearly 2 billion viewers around the world.

It is worth mentioning that the World Cup will be attended by 32 national teams, including the Egyptian football team, which will participate for the third time in its history after a 28-year-absence.

The World Cup’s matches will be held in 12 sports stadiums in 11 Russian cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Nyingj Novgorod, Samara, Volgograd, Saransk, Rostov, Sochi and Ekaterinburg).