By Youssra El-SharkawyCairo, Jan 13 (PTI) India and Egypt have a tremendouspotential to boost tourism through shared experiences,according to travel experts.
The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) of theIndian Embassy here has organised a seminar on 'SustainableTourism: New Avenues for Development' with the participationof eminent Indian and Egyptian speakers.
The discussion, held last Thursday, focused on differentthemes with a primary emphasis on sharing experiences fromdevelopments in the space of tourism in countries like Indiaand Egypt which have tremendous scope and potential to benefitfrom the tourism sector.
Sanjay Kandhari, Branch Head of Satguru Travels, saidthat India has many things to offer for tourists fromlandscapes to beaches and sites and other, which can bepromoted and attract more tourists from around the world.
Kandhari also added that Egypt have the same ability toattract tourists also and both countries should promote theseattractions in a better way.
As an Indian working in Egypt, Reuben Katariya, GeneralManager at Oberoi Egypt, said that Egypt has good aspectswhich India can learn for it; like that the Egyptianantiquities are well preserved and also the guides intouristic sites always have the same stories about the siteand people never hear different stories about the same place.
Elhamy el-Zayat, ex-chairman of the Egyptian TourismFederation said that social media is an important tool topromote tourism in both countries.
"I always say that we have tools that we didnÂ’t have inthe past, which social media. We can always say stories thatare interesting for everybody," he said.
For Gamal Raef, tourism writer, there is a common elementbetween the Indian and Egyptian tourism which is the culturaltourism because the two countries have deeply rootedcivilisation.
Raef also said that he hope that both countries can worktogether in the field of medical tourism and promote it amongtourists, especially when both countries are cooperating inthe pharmaceutical sector.
The speakers also mentioned that one of the ways topromote Indian tourism in Egypt is showing more Bollywoodmovies as they are already gaining more fans in Egypt.
India's Ambassador to Cairo Sanjay Bhattacharyya alsoparticipated in the discussion and emphasised how India andEgypt could be connected through Bollywood cinema.
He also mentioned that some Indian movies have alreadybeen screened on the big screen in recent period.
"What we are trying to do is to get Bollywood onto thebig screen because there are many Egyptian watch Bollywood onthe small screen and I don't think that is the way to watchIndian Cinema, you should really watch it on the big screen,"the envoy said.
The seminar is the sixteenth edition of the monthlyseries of MACIC Roundtable, a monthly seminar series involvingyouth, academicians, culture lovers, civil society on issuesof mutual interest to India and Egypt. PTI YESUZM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
