Business IdeasEgypt woos Bollywood
After Switzerland, South Africa, New York and Hong Kong, it is Egypt that is now looking at grabbing a piece of the Bollywood film action.
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With encouraging acceptance of Bollywood films at the recently held Cairo International Film Festival, which saw over 30 Indian films donning the red carpet, the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA), a national agency responsible for marketing Egypt as a preferred tourist destination, is planning to lay special emphasis on attracting Indian film production houses.
“The ETA is in the process of designing special packages for Indian movie makers, including offering free location-scouting trips and single-window clearances for film shoots in the country. We plan to introduce these packages from next year,” Adel El Masry, director-general, Egyptian Consulate (tourism office) in India, told Business Standard.
Besides the capital city Cairo, ETA plans to promote Luxor, a city dazzled with ancient granite and sandstone palaces and temples and Aswan, an ancient frontier town 81 miles south of Luxor, as hotspots for film shoots.
Masry said Egypt had so far been promoted as a country steeped in history with deserts, mummies, pyramids and pharoahs. Last week, the authority changed its slogan from the earlier ‘Where it all begins’ to ‘Egypt has it all’.
“To project the nation as a mix of old world charm and a potpourri of leisure and adventure activities for the modern day tourist, ETA is now embarking on a new campaign across print, television, cinema and outdoor media to attract more Indian tourists. The campaign, for which ETA has earmarked $500,000 (approximately Rs 2.35 crore), will kick off from January 2010,” he said.
With the new theme in place, Egypt will now promote cities like Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada and Safaga located on the Red Sea coast, which offers a variety of aquatic activities including surfing, snorkeling, diving, and wellness tourism.
Egypt, where tourism contributes 11.8 per cent to the economy, witnessed foreign tourist arrivals of 13 million last year, with 70 per cent coming in from Europe. “Egypt recorded 80,000 Indian tourist arrivals last year. Courtesy the special campaign, we expect to see an increase of more than 15 per cent starting this year,” Masry said.