00:00 True, I'm very proud of the record numbers that the Egyptian tourism industry have generated during 2023.
00:06 Who has been making that visit?
00:09 Well, practically everybody. The top nationality is the German nationals with 1.6 million tourists,
00:16 slightly higher than 10% of the total, the Russians, the Saudis, the Brits, Polish, Americans.
00:26 And of course, in every one of those nationalities and other nationalities, the Chinese, the Czechs, Italians, of course.
00:36 In every one of those nationalities, they have different preferences, different average number of nights per visit,
00:43 different products that they want to sell.
00:46 Most of the private sector in Egypt I have seen are promoting four specific types of products where they can excel and do very well.
00:55 Number one, of course, is culture. And the second is families, then beaches, and then scuba diving.
01:01 We're investing heavily in restoring Cairo of the 9th century, 10th century, 12th century and onwards,
01:11 to be able to offer a specific experience for global trotters who are looking for experiences for long weekends
01:24 or time to spend in a metropolitan city that can offer 5,000 years of history.
01:34 Egypt spent 22% of its GDP on infrastructure over the past seven years, Peter.
01:40 And of course, to develop the quality of life, to improve the quality of life for Egyptians,
01:47 but also tourism industry stands to gain the most out of that significant improvement in the infrastructure.
01:53 So on October 12th, we sent 300 letters to the chief executives and the senior management of the companies
02:07 which populate the supply chain of the Egyptian tourism products around the world.
02:14 And we told them a very simple message.
02:16 We understand that risks have just gone up for you on October 7th.
02:22 We are here to de-risk the product for you.
02:26 And we're going to work with you in partnership to ensure that we continue to get the airlift necessary for you to sell the product.
02:34 And at the same time, we're going to add to our co-marketing budget so you can be able to continue to explain to your customers how Egypt continues to be safe.
02:46 So two things. Most people don't realize that Egypt is nearly double the size of France, Peter.
02:54 And that the Gaza borders is between 300 kilometers to a thousand kilometers from the nearest tourism city that most British tourists and other European tourists will visit.
03:11 These days, because of the huge investments that are needed to be able to continue to preserve and restore those human heritage to the world.
03:24 Today, the Supreme Council for Antiquities, the budget allocated for spending is witnessing significant challenges and pressures, especially with the inflation in the country.
03:36 And this is why we continue to ensure that the prices of the tickets and the negotiations that we continue to have with the Ministry of Finance to be able to receive the right budget for the Council to continue to do its job.
03:49 And this is why I love to see more tourists visit the country to be able to help us preserve those antiquities for the world.
04:00 The entire budget for all these antiquities this year is going to be in the range of about $300-$350 million.
04:08 The Metropolitan Museum in New York spends kind of that money during one year, just one museum in New York.
04:14 So it shows you the extent of the challenge that we face as we try to preserve these antiquities to the world.
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