Tourism Ministry mulls boosting cooperation with China's Sichuan

CAIRO - 15 February 2019: Tourism Minister Adviser for Training Soha Baghat discussed on Friday with Vice Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC Gan Lin boosting bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism.

On the behalf of Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat, Bahgat stressed the importance of the Chinese market as one of the promising tourist markets for Egypt, pointing out that 2018 witnessed flocking of many Chinese tourists to Egypt.

During the meeting, she noted that promoting for opening the Grand Egyptian Museum under the rubric "GEM2020" is a major axis of the Egyptian tourism promotion campaign.

Bahgat pointed to the cooperation with China in the fields of training and improving the efficiency of the human factor, especially what is related to Chinese cuisine due to the Egyptians' turnout to it.

Lin, for his part, said that China is looking forward to fostering tourism, academic, and cultural cooperation citing the Chinese tourists' passion for the ancient Egyptian civilization.

He offered training programs for the Egyptian chiefs to train for preparing the Chinese food.

Lin invited Mashat to attend the international travel expo, set to be held in Sichuan in September, saying the Egyptian companies' participation will have a great impact on the Chinese tourists flocking to Egypt.

Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority Ahmed Youssef said that the fair will be a great opportunity for getting acquainted with the Chinese tourism companies and the needs of the Chinese tourists as well as promoting for the cultural tourism in Egypt.

The meeting touched on developing tourism between Egypt and China in light of operating the first direct flights between Cairo and Sichuan.