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Tui Travel chiefs have been asked to meet with Egypt’s prime minister to discuss ways of growing tourism to the country.
The invitation came at an audience with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attended by Tui Travel deputy chief executive, Johan Lundgren, and managing director of product and purchasing, Garry Wilson, yesterday.
They were part of a delegation of European tour operators and industry figures.
Lundgren discussed the need for safety and security for the well-being of customers following a turbulent period for the country.
Up until this year, Europe’s largest travel group had more one million customers a year travelling to holiday in Egypt.
The aim of the meeting “was to discuss how we can work even closer together with the Egyptian authorities to successfully grow the number of Tui Travel customers back to the levels seen in previous years,” said Lundgren.
“The stability in core tourism areas has helped improve confidence and the president has reassured us that he remains focused on supporting and prioritising safety and security.
“Consideration of Egypt as a destination for our customers is on the increase and we will be continuing to facilitate inbound growth and investment.”
He added: “It was a very successful and progressive meeting and we have been asked personally to meet with the prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab in the coming weeks to discuss progress on these issues with a special focus on Tui Travel’s specific plans for investments and growth.”
Tui UK & Ireland was the first operator to return to Luxor earlier this year and is doubling capacity next year with the introduction of flights from Manchester. An additional resort, Marsa Alam, has also been added into UK and German holiday programmes.