Egyptian Tourist Office appoints new director in Spain

From next week we will have a new colleague among the destination marketing community of Spain. Mohamed Mohsen Ismail will replace Magued Abousedera at the head of the Egyptian Tourist board in Spain. Mohamed Mohsen Ismail (born 1975) knows Spain and presumably Spanish because he has been here to study marketing. Since 2007 he has been coordinating the “desert tourism” product in Egypt.

I welcome Mohamed to Madrid and wish him every success in winning back the market share Egypt lost last spring. In 2010, Spanish tourist arrivals to Egypt were at 160,000 per year, making it a popular destination with tourists and with Spanish investors.  For me, Egypt is one of the most successful destinations in the world when it comes to bouncing back after a crisis. Perhaps because the pyramids are an irresistible lure to tourists, perhaps because of their marketing or perhaps because there is a lot of foreign investment the fact is that time after time Egypt’s tourism figures have taken a real beating only to pick themselves up and fight back to the top of the ranking.

Mr. Abousedera for his part leaves Madrid with a heavy heart because he said he always felt like Spain was his second home.  He is nonetheless happy to be taking up a new position at the Ministry of Tourism in Cairo.

Mohamed Mohsen Ismail (Image from http://www.Hosteltur.com)