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SUN SHINES ON NEW TOURISM CAMPAIGN
BY AMENA BAKR
The Pyramids have always been a draw, but tourism
promoters are looking beyond Egypt’s cultural heritage to
attract new visitors, and keep them coming back. Fortunately, Egypt
is blessed with all the right ingredients for a holiday vacation:
sun-drenched beaches, water activities and some of the world’s
finest coral reefs. Selling tourists on it should be a breeze.
Last year, the Ministry of Tourism launched its “Red Sea Riviera”
international media campaign to promote Egypt not as a historic
or cultural destination, but as a fun-in-the-sun beach destination.
The campaign aimed at drawing a decidedly younger crowd to Egypt
– the type who visit once, enjoy the beach life, then return
every season.
Since the campaign was launched in early 2003, tourist visits have
increased about 40 percent to reach 8.6 million by the end of 2005.
The campaign’s organizers are happy, but many of the tourists
lured to Egypt by the slick television ads apparently are not. “The
Red Sea Riviera campaign tried to create a seductive look for Egypt
that did not [really] exist,” says Yasmine El Bahey, senior
account manager at DDB, the American advertising agency behind this
year’s campaign. “Many people were disappointed when
they discovered that it was all a fairy tale.”
The previous campaign, produced by US-based Lowe & Partners
Worldwide, featured stunning visuals of Red Sea beaches, water activities
and, somewhat provocatively, bikini-clad women holding beach umbrellas.
While the locations and activities do indeed exist, the romantic,
pristine beaches and liberal atmosphere the ad portrayed was all
a bit of a stretch. Many tourists came expecting to find a cross
between the Maldives and the French Riviera.
But the tourists were not the only ones disappointed. Many Egyptians
thought the ad was incorrectly depicting the nature of the country’s
society and values by showing too many women in what they regarded
as “overly revealing” swimwear. “We wanted to
symbolize freedom in Egypt, that’s why we chose this kind
of atmosphere,” explains Sayed Mehris, vice chairman of the
Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA). “Besides, what would people
like the models to wear on the beach other than bathing suits? Maybe
they would have been more satisfied if the women wore niqab [full
veil],” he scoffed.
Regardless of the different views on the matter, this year the Ministry
of Tourism opted for a more conservative and comprehensive ad campaign
that would help illustrate the multiple facets of Egypt all united
under one theme, “Egypt, the Gift of the Sun.” The campaign
was launched in September in eight different languages on various
satellite television channels including CNN International and several
terrestrial European channels.
The television and print campaign targets individual countries according
to the activities that are more likely to appeal to consumers of
that market. “There are different versions of the ad for each
market,” says El Bahey. “For example, the ad shown in
France focuses more on Egypt’s culture [while the] one in
the UK has more sun and leisure.” Traditionally, French tourists
are more interested in Egyptian antiquities, while British tourists
are more interested in leisure activities and water sports, she
explains.
Yet there is a common thread. According to research conducted by
DDB, the three things most international tourists want in a vacation
are sunshine, hospitality and safety. “Most people would say
that sunshine [in a] safe place is what they are looking for,”
El Bahey says. “They don’t want to go to a war zone
or the arctic for their holiday.”
Based on the results of this research, the advertising teams from
DDB’s France and Egypt bureaus collaborated to create an ad
campaign that depicted the sun as a symbolic gesture of warmth and
hospitality – an idea incorporated into the campaign’s
logo, two hands holding up the sun. “The hands represent the
generosity of Egyptians [who are] sharing the sun with their guests,”
explains El Bahey.
As opposed to the previous ad, which focused entirely on beach and
water activities, this year’s campaign gave tourists a wider
range of activities that can be done in Egypt, from a relaxing day
on the beach, to desert safaris to visiting cultural sites. “We
had to focus on young people because most of the tourists who were
coming to Egypt were above 50,” she says. “We [wanted]
to reveal the hip side of Egypt, like having a rave party in the
desert.”
Mahmoud El Kaissouni, an adviser to the minister of tourism, believes
the campaign’s focus on locations with striking natural beauty,
such as the Western Desert and diving areas, will help expand the
demographic of tourists. “A lot of people are no longer interested
in seeing the Pyramids and going to museums, especially if they’ve
been to Egypt before... that’s why we had to introduce some
new ideas,” he explains. “With all due respect to all
the campaigns that were released over the years, none of them effectively
captured Egypt’s natural beauty.”
By widening the demographic appeal – particularly by attracting
more younger tourists – the Ministry of Tourism hopes to achieve
its target of 16 million tourists per year by 2014. Officials are
optimistic that the current campaign will help contribute to these
results. “We can clearly see that tourism is growing as the
number of nights spent is constantly on the rise,” says Mehris.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, average tourism nights rose
20 percent between 2004 and 2005 to reach 66.2 million.
Although it’s still not clear how much of the growth can be
attributed to the ad campaign, Mehris is optimistic, though at the
same time cautious not to count his eggs before they hatch. “The
new ad manages to harmonize the different faces of Egypt. That’s
why I believe it will be very successful, but it’s too early
to [give] any figures,” he says.
While the campaign may entice tourists to book a holiday in Egypt,
getting them to return for a second or third trip is a lot more
of a challenge. Despite all that the country has to offer in terms
of activities, its tourist return rate is among the lowest in the
Mediterranean region. Egypt’s return rate is estimated to
be a modest 20 percent. Spain’s rate, by contrast, is 90 percent.
The reasons for the low return rate are many, but among the top
complaints heard by travel agents are the unusually high incidence
of harassment and swindling that tourists encounter.
Amani El Torgoman, deputy general manger and director of tourism
operations at Travco, one of the largest travel companies in the
country, told Business Monthly that she had heard of cases of some
camel owners refusing to let tourists off their camel until they
pay them five dollars or euros. “This is unacceptable behavior
and we have to educate these people [that] if they continue with
this hit-and-run attitude the [tourists] won’t come back,”
she says.
Grossly over-charging tourists for everything from mineral water
to cab fare may be as common in Egypt as in other developing countries,
but El Torgoman says the lows to which some Egyptians go to scam
tourists puts it in a class by itself. Among the worst cases she
has heard of was one group of locals who took tourists to what they
described as a “Quran Party.” For a $5 fee, the tourists
were able to listen to recitations from the Holy Book and receive
a free coffee. What sounded to the tourist like a traditional spiritual
event was in reality merely a funeral at a mosque. “For a
while, nobody really took notice since funerals are open for all
mourners,” El Torgoman explains.
In an effort to curb such deceitful practices, the Ministry of Tourism
launched a local awareness campaign in parallel with the international
one. “We had to put a stop to all this chaos and tell these
people that it’s not to their benefit to scare away tourists,”
Mehris explains.
Despite these obstacles, tourism experts believe the new ad campaign
stands to increase tourism by portraying Egypt as much more than
just Pyramids and tombs. “Egypt is not a set menu,”
says El Torgoman. “Egypt is an open buffet, meaning that there
is something for everyone.”
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