8 - 14 March 2001
Issue No.524
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 8 - 14 March 2001 Issue No.524 |
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Budding industry of conference tourism
Recent high-level meetings at the Cairo International Conference Centre (CICC), at Sharm Al-Sheikh and at Taba offer practical evidence that Egypt has made great strides in developing conference facilities in the last 10 years. Apart from these much-publicised events, to what extent is Egypt profiting from what is regarded today as one of the more important and lucrative types of tourism?
Conference tourism brings into the country large numbers of guests, sometimes running into the thousands. They may be scientists, doctors, businessmen and women, or cultural organisations. All with high spending power -- most have, after all, flown in on a free ticket -- and, with encouragement and a little extra time, ready to make the most of the trip and prepared to do a little shopping. It has been calculated that conference attendees spend, on average, more than five times as much as ordinary tourists on shopping and entertainment. When participants bring their spouses, spending more than doubles.
While conference tourism does not depend on season, and while most countries in the northern hemisphere, especially Europeans, prefer to hold such events in periods of low-occupancy -- autumn and winter -- these are the peak tourism seasons in Egypt. Therefore, Egypt can ideally offer to host conferences from April to September.
While some leading hotels have taken steps to upgrade their conference facilities, train staff, and provide the necessary technological equipment, they still do not compare in either room-rates, services or incentives with those in other parts of the world.
"The United States spends $92 billion per year on conference tourism," said Elhamy El-Zayat, president of the Egyptian Travel Agents' Association and chairman of Emeco Travel. He said Egypt had only recently begun to be aware of the benefits of conference tourism. Coordination has been established between the state and travel agencies to support conferences, while police, the traffic department and customs are doing their best to facilitate services. "But, while stressing a certain success in organising local conferences, we are taking only the first steps towards international ones," he said.
Egyptian travel agencies have begun to establish connections in the field, and themselves attend related international tourism conventions.
But while Egypt has always seen itself as a tourist destination and as such has weathered many regional and political storms, the Middle East is also regarded as a trouble spot. Its ideal location at the crossroads of the world also makes it vulnerable. "We face some problems," El-Zayat conceded. "We also have some marketing problems because promotion is only carried out through travel agencies, not the state. We should have a 'convention bureau' in each city to deal specifically with conferences where every aspect of conference tourism -- from hotels, conference centres and car rental to pre- and post-conference tours -- can be coordinated."
Mohamed Fouad, team leader of conferences and incentives at Thomas Cook, said conference tourism activated commerce in several sectors, but there were several such areas where performance could be improved. He felt the state should cooperate more fully with travel agents, and should improve infrastructure such as roads and medical facilities.
Fouad said there was a need for more three- and four-star hotels in Cairo providing conference facilities. "We should be encouraging Eastern European, Indian, Chinese and African markets to hold conferences in Egypt," he said, adding that Sharm Al-Sheikh should not be the only centre with full facilities. "The conference centres we have in Luxor and Alexandria are not large or well-equipped enough. We need to have regular direct flights to those cities and not depend on charter flights."
While national goals have been set high, success at individual levels is impressive. Dr Mohamed Amer, president of Zagazig University and professor of dermatology and venereology, said that since 60 per cent of conferences worldwide were medical, he had made a concerted effort over the last 20 years to persuade international medical associations to hold conferences in Egypt. He had organised a professional public relations department at his university. "Doctors in several countries are obliged to add a number of conference hours to their CVs in order to update their licences," he said. He added that Egypt could be an attraction both because of its reputation in the field of medicine, especially in the Middle East and Africa, and also because of its historical sites. When his group organised an international congress for dermatology in 1999, the first in Africa, the Ministry of Tourism invited the participants on a Nile trip. Dr Amer said the only problem they had faced was the high fees charged for the conference rooms, and he suggested the state support medical conventions which, he said, were no less important than political conferences.
Egypt's most successful event, El-Zayat said, was the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) which was held in Cairo in 1994. "We gained much publicity in the international media on that occasion, especially since interesting topics were discussed and widely covered in the Western press. After that we caught the eye of several organisers. The Nose, Ear and Larynx Conference will be held this year, and we hope others will follow in its wake," El-Zayat said
However, he did concede that the high rate for hiring the CICC could be a problem, and compared Cairo with other cities. "For example, Amsterdam does not look for immediate profit like we do, but looks at the interest of the entire city."
Mohamed Fathi, Thomas Cook's assistant sales manager, said entertainment for conference guests could be improved.
"We have started taking people out of the four walls of the meeting rooms,'" he said. "We give parties at the Pyramids and temples. But we need more help from the Supreme Council of Antiquities to cut overpriced entrance fees to historical sites."
He said Thomas Cook set up display counters at conferences to show the scheduled tours on offer, ranging from half-day to three-day excursions. He said that while many guests preferred a half-day visit to the Pyramids or the Egyptian museum, others took advantage of being in Egypt to take a short Nile cruise or travel to Sharm Al-Sheikh or Hurghada.
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