India is looking for increasing its cooperation with Egypt in the tourism sector, India’s ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said. He explained that the number of Indian tourists travelling to Egypt is going up owing to the recently relaxed visa system. Ambassador Bhattacharyya’s words came during a recent session entitled Tourism in India, which was held in the Tagore Hall in the Indian Embassy in Cairo
“We are looking for more cooperation between Egypt and India in the field of tourism,” he said.
The session was aimed at boosting tourism between the two countries.
“If you ask for a tourist visa, you get it the next day,” said the Ambassador, who also mentioned that he hopes Egypt will do the same.
The Ambassador said that number of Indian tourists coming to Egypt is going up, while the number of Egyptians going to India remains the same.
The session was attended by a group of Indian and Egyptian businessmen as well as representatives from the Egyptian tourism authority.
“Last year the number of Indian tourists to Egypt rose by 27 per cent,” Mr Bhattacharyya said.
Bhattacharyya said there was a great awareness among both the Indian and Egyptian people because Indians study about Egypt, the pharaohs, the pyramids and the ancient city of Luxor in their schools, while Egyptians know about India from Bollywood films.
“Studying about Egypt at school makes a lot of Indian tourists come to Egypt to see the sites they had learned about,” he said.
Mahmoud Abdel-Wahab, representative of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, said that both countries have rich experiences to offer tourists.
Abdel-Wahab also urged the representatives of EgyptAir, who were attending the session, to start activating direct flights from Cairo to Delhi. Egypt’s national carrier operates direct flights only from Cairo to Mumbai.
Two short documentaries on tourism in India were screened during the session.