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Chinese boy etches graffiti into Egyptian treasure; the last straw?

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BEIJING — “Ding Jinhao was here.”

It was a banal declaration scratched by a teenager at a 3,500-year-old Egyptian temple that has launched a round of soul-searching about bad behavior of Chinese tourists.

The Chinese-language graffiti was discovered at Luxor this month by a Chinese tourist who posted a photograph on a microblog in which he deplored the conduct of his countrymen abroad. “I’m so embarrassed that I want to hide myself,” the microblogger wrote last week.

Within days, Chinese had outed the vandal as a boy from Nanjing who had visited Egypt with his parents.

The incident has set off a very public debate in China about etiquette and the country’s image abroad. In response, the National Tourism Administration put out guidelines Tuesday advising Chinese going abroad on eight key points of etiquette, from waiting in line to refraining from spitting and littering.

“They speak loudly in public, carve characters on tourist attractions, cross the road when the traffic lights are still red, spit anywhere and [carry out] some other uncivilized behavior. It damages the image of the Chinese people and has a very bad impact,” Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang complained.

Newly empowered by their rising wealth, Chinese have become the world’s leading tourists with 83 million going abroad last year, according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization. While the $102 billion they spend is welcome, their behavior often is not.

The media here and elsewhere in Asia are full of stories of outrageous Chinese conduct. In Hong Kong, a child was allowed to defecate in a subway car. In Paris, wealthy Chinese drive sales clerks in luxury boutiques to tears with their imperious behavior.

“In general, Chinese tourists are too loud. When they get into a hotel they talk nonstop at the top of their lungs. They swarm into the elevator when the door opens,” said Li Dezhi, a Guangdong-based tour agent who takes Chinese groups abroad. He said he was embarrassed in Japan to see signs – only in Chinese – advising people they need to flush the toilet. “Obviously, they think it is only the Chinese who engage in this kind of bad behavior.”

In fact, there is plenty of non-Chinese graffiti in Luxor and elsewhere in Egypt. But the Chinese are particularly fond of writing their names on monuments. It is a tradition that is sometimes attributed to the Chinese classic, “Journey to the West,” in which the Monkey King carves “I was here” on Buddha’s finger. The magazine Caixin, in response to the Luxor scandal, ran a photo spread this week on its website of historic sites in China that were defaced with graffiti.

Liu Kaiming, a Shenzhen-based activist and social critic, sees parallels with destruction encouraged by the Communist Party from the founding of modern China in 1949 through the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Everything in China has the same kind of carvings. There is a lack of respect for social order and rule of law,” said Liu.

Editorials in Chinese media in recent days have pontificated on the lessons learned from the Luxor incident. Peoples’ Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, opined that “this instance shows our families and schools have failed to deliver to the children something that should be expected first and foremost of any education: moral principles and civic virtues.”

Ding Jinhao’s chagrined mother over the weekend said that her son, now 15, had carved the graffiti a few years ago.

“We want to apologize to the Egyptian people and to people who have paid attention to this case across China,” she told a Nanjing newspaper over the weekend. The boy’s father begged Internet users to stop hounding the teenager. “This is too much pressure for him to take,’’ he told the newspaper.

However, the retribution against Ding continues. Infuriated Chinese Internet users over the weekend hacked into the website of his former elementary school and defaced the home page with a message: It read, “Ding Jinhao was here.”

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Tommy Yang of the Times’ Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

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Barbara Demick is a former foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times who previously headed bureaus in Beijing and Seoul, as well as New York. She is the author of “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” and “Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood.” Demick has won Britain’s Samuel Johnson Award for best nonfiction; the George Polk Award; the Robert F. Kennedy Award; the Osborn Elliott Prize for Journalism from the Asia Society; the Overseas Press Club’s Joe and Laurie Dine Award for human rights reporting; the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Award; and Stanford University’s Shorenstein Award for best Asia reporting. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. She was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Chinese tourism to egypt can reach 10m annually: tourism expert.

Egypt Today staff

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 - 08:37 GMT

Tourists in Egypt

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The sight of busloads of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt’s ancient sites has been lifting the spirits of the country’s hoteliers and travel officials who relish the prospect of a new and vast source of potential visitors. Chinese tourism in Egypt has been growing fast since a “comprehensive strategic partnership” was agreed between the two countries in 2014 — an initiative which encompasses trade, investment and political ties.

China and Egypt are growing their economic relationship from a low base. The strengthening ties appear rooted in that political decision made by both authoritarian governments four years ago, when Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president a year after overthrowing his elected Islamist predecessor, Mohamed Morsi.

At the time, Egypt started drawing closer to Russia and China to diversify its foreign relations and find allies other than its traditional partners in the US and Europe, who signalled unease about a popularly-backed coup followed by a crackdown on dissent. Cairo values China’s stated policy of non-interference in other countries’ affairs and is keen to attract Chinese investors to the big infrastructure projects that are a major part of Mr Sisi’s economic policy.

“There are economic powers who have the ability to help us but not the desire, and others who have the desire but not the ability,” said Mostafa Ibrahim, deputy head of the China committee in the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association. “China tops the list of those who have both the ability and the desire.”

Since 2014, China’s president, Xi Jinping has invited Mr Sisi to China five times, and visited Cairo himself in 2016. “This has not been the pattern before and it has given a crucial impetus to the economic co-operation,” said Han Bing, minister counsellor of economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese embassy in Cairo.

During Mr Sisi’s latest visit to Beijing in September, he signed deals worth some $18bn with Chinese companies covering a railway, real estate, energy projects and an oil refinery.

Although cumulative Chinese investments in Egypt totalled some $700m by mid-2018, according to Egyption investment ministry figures, Mr Han says Chinese companies have close to $6bn of investments in Egypt. “More than 80 per cent of these [were made] in the last four years,” he adds.

According to data compiled by fDi intelligence, a division of the FT, cumulative Chinese foreign direct investment in Egypt totalled $24.3bn. fDi intelligence noted this figure was skewed by a $20bn investment announced but not yet realised by Shanghai-listed China Fortune Land Development in the planned new administrative capital in the desert east of Cairo.

Separately, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), has been contracted to build 20 towers in the new city, including what is billed as the tallest tower in Africa. The president hopes to move the seat to the new city, one of his megaprojects, from mid-2019.

Chinese banks are expected to finance some 85 per cent of $13bn in costs cited in reports mentioning CSCEC. A Chinese company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to build a rail link to the capital. The Chinese conglomerate TEDA-Suez is expanding its industrial zone near the port of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea says Mr Han. He notes that Egypt’s location, and the Suez Canal, are an incentive for increased co-operation within China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Belt and Road , a massive infrastructure plan to link China with trading partners in Asia, Europe and Africa, has been the target of mounting scepticism about the viability of some projects and the resultant increase in debts to Beijing by recipient countries.

Responding to these concerns, Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s investment minister, told Reuters earlier this month that her country accepted Chinese investments only in projects that were mutually beneficial. “If we have more Chinese industries in Egypt, creating jobs for us, making us less dependent on certain imports and in fact exporting to Europe to Africa, it’s a win-win,” she said.

She told the news agency that Egypt was taking care to diversify its sources of financing, even within individual sectors, noting that while China was involved in building a railway in Egypt, locomotives and train carriages were being bought elsewhere.

Parallel to the expansion in investment, there has been an increasing flow of Chinese tourists coming to Egypt. Their numbers more than doubled last year to 300,000 from some 130,000 the year before.

“We have seen a very significant increase of Chinese tourists,” said Selim Shawer, manager of the Sofitel Luxor Winter Palace. “We are now getting some of our staff to learn Chinese to serve them better.”

The main reason for this growth, says Ahmed al-Kholy, head of Solar Empire Travel, an Egyptian company focused on the Chinese market, is more charter flights from China. He says there are 14 charters a week to Egypt and the market could grow faster with more flights.

“The Chinese market has its advantages and drawbacks,” he says. “It is low-budget, but it provides volume. In addition, it is not as sensitive to [political] events as the European market. The Europeans take fright when something happens, but the Chinese are not so easily affected.”

Egyptian exports to China remain tiny in comparison to imports from China, but they have also been rising — a result of the recent rapprochement, says Mr Han. Egypt exported $408m worth of goods to China in 2017 — 60 per cent more than the year before, according to Egyptian official figures.

“Last year Egypt was the third exporter of oranges to China,” he says. “We are expecting this year good agricultural exports, besides oranges there will also be grapes, which have had access to the Chinese market since last year.”

This article has been amended to clarify that investment figures were from the Egyptian investment ministry not the Chinese investment ministry.

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Egypt's tourism recovering, eyeing more Chinese visitors: minister

• Monday، 11 February 2019 - 01:18 PM

Egypt's tourism is in constant improvement with a growing number of tourists from Western, Arab and Asian states, expecting more Chinese visitors in the coming seasons, Egyptian Tourism Minister Rania el Mashat said. "We had a leap in tourism in 2017 and a large boom in 2018, when Egypt was visited by renowned foreign figures," the minister said in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Minya province, south of the capital Cairo. Tourism brought Egypt about 13 billion US dollars in revenues in 2010 alone, when some 14.7 million tourists visited the country. After that, the tourism sector has been suffering recession in Egypt over the past few years due to political turmoil and relevant security challenges that resulted from the ouster of two heads of state in 2011 and 2013. It further deteriorated after a plane crash in Sinai killing over 200 people, mostly Russians, in October 2015, and another tragic crash of an EgyptAir flight killing all 66 people on board, including 15 French nationals, in May 2016. "Tourism in Egypt started to recover and overcome the consequences of the Russian plane crash, and many countries started to resume its suspended flights to Egyptian airports," Mashat said. Moscow has already resumed direct flights to Cairo airport in April 2018 while flights to other Egyptian cities, including the popular Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, will be resumed "soon," according to Russian President Vladimir Putin following talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Russia's Sochi in October 2018. "Many other countries increased their flights to Egyptian airports such as Serbia, which has 11 new flights to Hurghada," the minister emphasized. On the other hand, Chinese Sichuan Airlines launched a direct flight to Cairo airport for the first time in late October 2018. Egypt also opened in late January its new Sphinx International Airport, about 12 km away from the Great Pyramids of Giza, linking tourist destinations northern and southern the country via domestic flights. "In the tourism ministry, we have launched a flight promotion program in early November 2018, which urged some cities abroad to open new airlines with Egyptian airports," the minister explained. Mashat said that her ministry holds regular discussions with tourist companies and travel agents to find out new means of attracting more tourists to the monument-rich most populous Arab country. The tourism ministry keeps an eye on the archeological discoveries announced by the antiquities ministry to add new destinations to Egypt's tourism map. Last week, Mashat attended the announcement of the discovery of more than 40 mummies in ancient tombs in Minya. "Cultural tourism is very important and unique in Egypt," Mashat said. "Inviting foreign diplomats and media channels to such discoveries is meant to introduce and promote new attractions in Egypt to the world, such as Minya province that was not very well-known despite its attractive sites," she said. "We have a 'destination branding' as part of our promotion program, introducing a variety of tourist destinations in Egypt to foreign visitors in cooperation with the ministry of antiquities," Mashat added. The minister said that the upcoming opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2020, which will be the biggest in the world to display the artifacts of one civilization, is a key part of the tourism ministry's promotion plan. "I would like firstly to wish all Chinese people a happy Chinese New Year, and it was the first time in Egypt to light up Cairo's Saladin Citadel in red in celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival and the Chinese New Year," the minister said. She continued that the tourism ministry eyes more Chinese tourists to visit Egypt in the near future in the light of the fast growing relations between the two countries. "We attach importance to Chinese tourists and Egypt has a comprehensive strategic partnership with China," Mashat said, noting that China was among the first countries visited by Sisi after he came to office. Mashat stressed the fruitful cooperation between her ministry and the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo in various areas including training and learning from the Chinese expertise. Among the joint activities is that a group of Chinese chefs will visit Egypt next month to teach their Egyptian counterparts how to cook Chinese dishes, according to the minister. She noted that the Chinese people have their own means of social media and her ministry will address through their own channels "to make sure the message will reach every Chinese citizen in different regions." "We have many other projects of cooperation with the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo including the promotion of Egyptian tourist destinations in Chinese language," the minister told Xinhua.

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Chinese outbound tourists key to egyptian tourism.

Published: October 09,2023

Chinese tourists visit the Giza Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

At the Luxor temple, an enormous ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River, Huang Zhao, a Chinese tourist, was taking photos while listening to the tour guide on the temple’s history.

“The temple is a masterpiece of art. I used to read many books on Egyptology, and visiting the archeological sites was a dream,” said Huang, who also visited the Great Pyramids, Egypt’s southern cities including Aswan, and sea resorts in Hurghada.

Meanwhile, Chen Wu, a 22-year-old student who came with her parents from Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong Province, said she had planned this trip to Egypt two years before.

“My father always encourages me to read history books, especially on ancient civilizations that are similar to the Chinese one,” Chen said, adding that she used to save her pocket money for buying replicas from old markets in Egypt.

“Ten days are not enough to visit all the archeological sites I intend to,” she said while visiting the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. “It is a chef-d’oeuvre of ancient architecture.”

The recovery of the tourism industry in China is now providing a significant boost to outbound tourism. This surge in outbound travel coincided with one of China’s most significant annual holidays, the Golden Week, which began on Sept. 29 and extended for eight days. During this period, Chinese people celebrated both the country’s National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“In the world’s No. 2 economy, spending on holidays and inbound and outbound tourism is expected to surge, contributing to the world’s tourism recovery,” said Mohamed Othman, chairman of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee in Upper Egypt.

According to China Tourism Academy, a Beijing-based research institution, overseas destinations received a total of 40.37 million visitors from the Chinese mainland during the first half of the year.

“Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget,” the tourist expert said, adding that the Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

To cater to Chinese tourists, Egypt’s tourism authorities have coordinated the installation of signs in Chinese languages in all archeological sites, temples, and hotels and provided umpteen tour guides who speak Chinese.

According to Fitch Ratings, an American credit rating agency, China was one of the world’s largest tourism source markets before the pandemic, with a total international tourism expenditure of 254.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

It expects a revival of Chinese outbound tourism to boost growth prospects in economies with substantial tourism sectors.

“With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China is a treasure for the world tourism sector,” said Ahmad Amer, an archeological inspector in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Chinese tourists have a craving for the ancient Egyptian civilization and often spend 10-15 days visiting the Pyramids, temples in Luxor and Aswan, the Aswan High Dam, and ancient markets in the capital besides staying for a few days in Red Sea resorts, according to Amer.

With moderate warm weather, beautiful beaches, and enormous ancient attractions, besides the recently improved infrastructure, Egypt is a good destination for Chinese tourists, Amer said.

“The advantage of the Chinese tourists is that they repeat their trips to Egypt, especially stays in the monument-rich city of Luxor, to know more about secrets of ancient Egypt,” said Ahmed Oraby, a tour guide in Luxor.

Chinese tourists spend good money on hand-made and heritage products, replicas, and souvenirs, the tour guide said, adding that starting from November, more Chinese tourists will come for their winter vacations. 

Chinese tourists pose for photos while visiting the Giza Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

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High hopes pinned on Chinese tourists to help revive Egypt's tourism sector

Xinhua | Updated: 2020-08-28 10:15

As Egypt's tourism industry has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials placed high hopes on Chinese tourists to help revive Egypt's tourism sector.

Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, said on Tuesday that Chinese tourists can help boost Egypt's tourism sector which has slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"China is a very important market, not only for Egypt but also for all Europe and other destinations," Pololikashvili, who is on an official visit to Egypt, told Xinhua.

Pololikashvili arrived in Egypt on Saturday for an official visit, during which he discussed with the country's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and other officials recent prominent tourism projects in Egypt amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The problem with Chinese tourists now is that they have to be quarantined for two weeks once they are back home, he said, adding that this rule has yet to be changed.

"I'm sure once it opens, the international flights with China will resume and Chinese tourists will be back," Pololikashvili told Xinhua during a tour with Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled al-Anany, at the construction site of Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.

Egypt, which has so far registered 97,478 COVID-19 infections and 5,280 deaths, resumed international flights in early July after it lifted a partial curfew that had been in place since late March and reopened restaurants, cafes, theaters, and cinemas, as well as hotels, museums, and archeological sites, all with limited capacity.

About 600 hotels nationwide were allowed to reopen as they had met the safety protocols announced by the authorities and pledged to operate at a reduced occupancy of 50 percent.

The North African country, which has been witnessing a sharp decline in daily COVID-19 deaths and infections, also decided to reopen archeological sites, hotels, and museums in the monument-rich city of Luxor for tourists from the beginning of September.

All travelers coming to Egypt will have to present a recent PCR test that proves they are free from COVID-19 as of Sept 1.

Earlier Tuesday, al-Anany said Egypt has received more than 136,000 tourists since it reopened its seaside resorts to international flights and foreign tourists on July 1, after a three-month halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.

China is the world's largest market for outbound travel with its outbound travelers skyrocketing from 4.5 million in 2000 to 150 million in 2018, according to a 2019 World Tourism Organization report.

Egypt is a favorable attraction to hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists each year for its historical sites and sunny sandy beaches.

Egypt's Official statistics revealed that China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017.

More than half a million Chinese tourists visited Egypt in 2018, according to the Chinese embassy in Cairo.

"China is one of the largest exporters of tourism in the world ... Egypt is one of the best attractions for thousands of Chinese," Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Tourism Affairs, Ghada Shalaby, told Xinhua.

She noted that Chinese tourists are unique because they favor both beach tourism and cultural tourism, unlike most of the tourists who prefer to spend most of their stay in seaside resort cities.

"China exports a large number of tourists every year, we need to get a bigger share ... I invite the Chinese people to visit Egypt and I'm sure they will love it," the official said.

Shalaby reiterated that Egypt is fully ready to receive millions of tourists and the authorities, in cooperation with the private sector, are carrying out all the anti-COVID-19 precautionary measures to guarantee the safety of tourists and the workers of the tourism sector alike.

The tourism industry, a key pillar of Egypt's economic revenues and hard currency, had started to show signs of recovery after years of political turmoil since the 2011 uprising that toppled late president Hosni Mubarak. However, it has suffered a heavy blow with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2019, Egypt registered a record $13 billion in tourism revenues.

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• Interview: Egypt eyes 3 mln Chinese tourists annually by 2028: minister

by Mahmoud Fouly, Yao Bing

CAIRO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Egypt seeks to attract 3 million Chinese tourists annually by 2028 as part of the country's ambitious strategy to increase its share in the Chinese tourism market, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa said on Sunday.

Egypt currently receives between 4,000 and 5,000 Chinese tourists per week. "That is a good number compared to previous records, but I think we can do much more," the minister told Xinhua in an interview.

Issa said that in order to host an increasing number of Chinese visitors, more flights and hotel rooms are required.

"We welcome Chinese hotel owners and investors to invest in Egypt, and we welcome Chinese tour operators to organize trips to Egypt," he said.

Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, China had about 150 million outbound tourists in 2019. According to Issa, since Egypt began to record the number of foreign tourists in 2000, the number of Chinese visitors has never exceeded 300,000 in a single year.

Issa added that further growth of Chinese tourists in Egypt can be achieved through cooperation between the Egyptian tourism ministry and its Chinese counterpart, as well as with Chinese investors and tour operators.

The Egyptian minister said he was glad with the growth of the number of Chinese tourists in Egypt since the COVID restrictions were lifted, "but it is still a tenth of where it needs to be, where it can be, and where it should be," he said.

"We have several programs that the Chinese tour operators and the Chinese airlines can benefit from," he said, noting Egypt offers an incentive program for airlines, as well as "a co-marketing program for Chinese tour operators that have promotion strategies of Egyptian products to the Chinese tourists."

According to the official, Egypt plans to provide Chinese tourism product retailers and media with familiarization trips to Egypt in order to help them learn about the Egyptian culture, and the north African country is about to announce "a whole new set of incentives for hotel investors at large."

The minister said he was looking forward to visiting China in early 2024 to discuss further cooperation with the Chinese side.

"I hope I'll be able to visit China very soon and meet with my friend the minister of culture and tourism in China and talk to Chinese hotel investors, tour operators and airlines to give them a glimpse of the great returns that they may get in Egypt," he said.

Tourism is one of the key industries in Egypt, accounting for around 12 percent of its gross domestic products (GDP).

Official data shows the tourist number in Egypt dropped from over 13 million in 2019 to around 3.7 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which gradually recovered to about 8 million in 2021 and further flourished in 2022 to hit 11.7 million.

Worrying about the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict's effect on the tourism sector in Egypt, Issa said his ministry sent reassurance letters to 300 important tour operators worldwide, which had a significant role in lessening the conflict's effect on Egypt's tourism industry.

The letters assured the operators that Egypt would be safe as a tourist destination and highlighted the incentives Egypt would offer to its travel agency partners worldwide.

As a result, the number of tourists in Egypt in October was 8 percent higher than that of the same period last year, second only to the record October number of 1.45 million tourists in 2010, according to the minister.

"It is showing that we should be able, or at least as close as possible, to achieve our objective of 15 million tourists for this year, which is going to be a more than 30-percent growth compared to 2022," the minister said, noting that Egypt targets to attract 30 million tourists annually by 2028. Enditem

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A photo shows Abbas Sayed Abbas, a Chinese-speaking Egyptian tourist guide, with a group of Chinese tourists in Egypt Photo: Huang Peizhao

With this year's super-long "golden week" spanning both the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays in full ...

Over the past eight days, people in China enjoyed a vacation that combined the Mid-Autumn Festival and the ...

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Will Chinese Tourists go back to Egypt in 2022?

Egypt used to receive 500,000 Chinese travellers, and with the crisis It is complicated for Chinese tourists to fly to Egypt, but the situation might Change.

65th Anniversary of Egypt-Chinese Relations.

The Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang marked the 65th Anniversary of Egypt-Chinese Relations. He stated that China is Egypt’s largest trading partner.

Liqiang stated that the trade volume between Egypt, China and Egypt reached $14.5 billion in a press conference.

Investment of China in Egypt

He pointed out that the value of trade in the first quarter 2021 was up 31 percent to 4.18 billion.

Liqiang stated that the 2020 direct investments between Egypt, China and Egypt totaled $190 million. He also noted that $1.2 billion was spent by China on Egypt.

Direct investments between the two countries almost doubled in Q1 2021 to reach $83 millions.

Liqiang stated that the Egyptian-Chinese relations have made progress in all areas, including trade and economy.

Some 235,000 Chinese tourists visit Egypt every year before 2020. The tourism crisis lasted for long, an Egyptian advisor to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Nearly half a million Chinese tourists visited Egypt in 2018.

Egypt and China, a good relationship

The ambassador pointed out that cooperation in the areas of space, energy, information technology and mining saw significant progress.

During the pandemic the cooperation projects between the countries grew regularly, including in Suez Canal, New Administrative Capital, and the railway project at the 10th of Ramadan.

Collaboration is possible in many other projects as well, such as the construction of five tall residential buildings at New Alamein City or the electric car project.

Liqiang pointed out that Egypt was ranked among the top five African tourist destinations for Chinese tourists in 2018. He said that half a million Chinese tourists visited Egypt in the same year.

Egypt Temples , museum and archaeological wonders

Egypt’s Luxor is witness to a revival of tourism in COVID-19 thanks to the reopening an ancient avenue.

Egypt hopes to make Luxor the largest open museum in the World and to highlight its unique tourist and archaeological potentials by reopening the historical avenue. Tourism accounts for approximately 12 percent of Egypt’s GDP. With the arrival of over 13 million tourists, Egypt was able to generate a record revenue of 13 billion US dollars.

After a couple of years of decline in tourism, the peak was achieved by a Russian plane accident over Sinai Peninsula in October 2015 that left 228 dead and an EgyptAir plane crash in May 2016, which killed all 66 passengers.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt and the subsequent lockdowns around the world led to a decline in tourism later.

Tourists are flocking to Luxor’s Karnak Temple Complex, Upper Egypt’s city-rich in monuments. This is because the North African country has seen a revival of tourism following a long period of recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bustle around Luxor’s temples and other sites was even more evident after Egypt opened the ancient Avenue of Sphinxes to the public on Friday, after years of restoration work.

Visitors came from all over the world to walk along the ancient 2,400-year-old walkway lined with 1,057 man-headed and ram-headed sphinxes.

Ambassador said that bilateral relations between Egypt and China were a good example to follow because they are characterised by cooperation, solidarity and mutual benefit.

First vaccine doses to Egypt

China provided the first coronavirus vaccine doses to Egypt in December. The first shipment contained 50,000 doses the Sinopharm vaccine.

As it began its January vaccination campaign, Egypt contracted for millions of Sinopharm doses.

China’s Sinovac also signed an agreement with Egypt to allow them to produce vaccines in Egypt. This will ensure that the vaccine is locally available and can be exported to Africa.

The agreement stipulates that Egypt will produce 40 million vaccine doses within the first year.

How to attract Chinese tourists in Egypt ?

You can attract Chinese tourists by managing your online business via Chinese social media Marketing .

Partner with local Chinese tour operators

Partnering with Chinese tour companies is a great way to get more groups nut it is hard. To ensure that your business is noticed by Chinese tourists, it’s important to make your company name is visible on Chinese social media, and trustable. Although listing on Dianping, Ctrip or Elong, Qunar etc… These travel website are a great way to get your business noticed, it is not the only solution. We have some tips to help you get noticed by people on the other side of this world.

Socia Media marketing in China

You might be able to activate and feed official accounts on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Facebook) and WeChat (similar like Instagram, WhatsApp, plus Facebook) and use Chinese influencers. KOL/Chinese Influencers/Chinese Social Media Stars are growing faster than the West or in your Egyptian calendar.

Most Chinese social media have published lot of good content in travel for Egypt, established brands or Shops, intineraies and set up online shops. Chinese travel influencer, have provide many information about Egypt. In the booming KOL(influencers industry it can be difficult for someone to know if the followers).

Lead Generation Agency in China specialized in Tourism source [Online Travel Agency]

Partner with local partners

It is best to seek out a professional agency specialized in Tourism, to avoid being scammed.

• We are a digital marketing agencies focus on tourism since 2012.
• We do more that language barriers, we perform on marketing campaigns.

Many Chinese tour companies , influencers, trendsetters, Medias, travelers don’t speak English,

Travel Agents can also help you determine the best Chinese platform to promote your company. Learn more about KOL Marketing

Word or Mouth in China & E-Reputation

Understanding Chinese behaviour is key to attracting Chinese tourists. Chinese tourists can easily be influenced by other people’s opinions. They refer to their “reviews and advice tools” when traveling. The king of these is Dazhong Dianping, Ctrip, Qunar.

Online Reputation Management company in China: PR, KOL, influencers, reviews

Chinese tourists both in China and overseas. If a restaurant , hotel, Spot has an almost endless number of rave reviews on Dianping then the Chinese will flock to it in droves. However, bad reviews can put off potential Chinese customers and they will choose to eat somewhere with a higher rating. It is common in China to find two restaurants serving the same cuisine side by side. One restaurant may be completely empty while the other is full of hungry diners waiting outside for their table.

This is the ctrip effect at its best. In the next step, we will give you a step by step strateg to this powerful and influential app, just contact our marketing agency.

We’ll also tell you how to get your business listed in Feizhu and Red/Xiaohongshu are all other Chinese tourism platforms.

Video sharing: Douyin, Kaushou, wechat video are on the rise. Similar to TikTok in Egypt… short videos are a good entertainement.

Find out more about how Chinese social media can be used to attract Chinese tourists.

The Chinese Holiday Calendar

You can prepare for them. Holidays are an integral part of any society’s life, and it is no different in China. It is important to remember that the Chinese holiday calendar is very different from the western calendars. There are no Easter holidays or Christmas holidays in China, which is a non-Christian nation.

The main holidays are the ‘Golden Week’ which falls between mid January and mid March and China’s National day.

The Lunar calendar is used to calculate the dates for this holiday. Many Chinese will only have the opportunity to go on holiday during these two periods. Because of this, China’s tourist spots are overcrowded at this time, more Chinese tourists are looking for more relaxed experiences. It will be easier to plan your campaigns, and it will help you attract Chinese tourists who are close by! Chinese holidays calendar 2020 Make Chinese tourists feel at home by making your business local. This is the ultimate goal of every business. This doesn’t mean that Chinese customers have to be served by your own business (although this might work in certain sectors). It is worth looking at how you can adapt and ‘localize” your services to meet the needs of your target customers. You might consider translating your menu or door signs into Chinese, offering photo opportunities (for restaurants), providing Chinese TV channels, advice and warning signs in Chinese, as well as providing hot water and breakfast options for your staff. These details, along with many others (such a listing on Dianping), will increase your chances of pleasing your Chinese customers and boost your popularity online, you have to setup special advertising campaign for Chinese social media.

Mobile Payment in China

A “WeChat Pay/Alipay” door sign will help you attract Chinese tourists and distinguish you from other neighbours who may be skeptical or unaware of the WeChat/Alipay revolution.

Alipay and WeChat Pay overseas are the most popular Chinese social media platforms. The customer pays in Chinese Yuan (RMB) while the store receives the payment in local currency. It is therefore not necessary that non-Chinese businesses deal with foreign currency as the revenue is sent directly to the business’s bank account. This is an excellent opportunity for European retailers who offer mobile payment solutions to market their products and attract Chinese tourists.

Egyptian Small business have to get WeChat Pay & Alipay WeChat Pay, a Chinese online payment company founded by Tencent in 2011, introduced its instant payment service to Egypt in 2018-2019 through collaboration with western bank. Western retailers will now be able to access it to compete with Alipay, the Chinese competitor from Alibaba Group. This allows Egypt retailers to target more than 1.2 Billion WeChat users monthly. We’re not talking about large department stores. WeChat’s QR Code Payment System can be installed by any shop, restaurant, or bar. It is a favorite among Chinese shoppers and one of the easiest things to ever happen to mankind. Your customers can pay instantly by scanning the QR code of your business and paying in their local currency.

The payment is then sent to your business account in your currency.

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[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] With the opening-up policy and the substantial increase in people’s personal income, leading to a great improvement in Chinese people’s leaving standards and consumption level. The China tourism industry has seen unprecedented development in recent years. Outbound visitors in 2017 were about 127 million…

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Egypt, China discuss tourism cooperation in Cairo

China’s chief diplomat was in Cairo Sunday for talks with Egyptian and Arab League officials, marking his last stop in a multi-leg trip to Africa that aims to consolidate Beijing's footprint across the resource-rich continent. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

As well as meeting separately with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. In a joint news conference, Shoukry said the talks addressed Sino-Egyptian relations and increasing Chinese tourism to the Middle Eastern country, which has for years struggled to revive its vital tourism sector.

Both ministers said they also discussed regional issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tensions have risen after the return to office last month of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is heading Israel’s most right-wing and religiously conservative government.

He also called for “maintaining the status quo” at Jerusalem’s most important holy site, after an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited it earlier this year. That visit drew fierce condemnation from across the Muslim world and a strong rebuke from the United States.

In his meeting with el-Sissi, the Chinese foreign minister said Beijing would continue to develop its investment in Egypt’s infrastructure projects including those with links to China’s Belt and Road initiative.

China has invested billions of dollars in Egyptian state-led projects such as the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the new administrative capital, which is being built east of Cairo. Qin arrived in Cairo Saturday afternoon.

His weeklong trip included Ethiopia, where the African Union headquarters is located, as well as Gabon, Angola and Benin. It was Qin's first overseas trip since his appointment in December.

For more than three decades, China’s foreign ministers have started their terms by visiting Africa, whose growing population as a continent rivals China’s.

Beijing has invested heavily in infrastructure in African countries, including roads, energy infrastructure, telecommunications, railways, and hospitals. The Chinese financial groups and funds also gave out $160 billion (USD) in loans to Africa between 2000 and 2020, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa Database.

Amide the coronavirus pandemic, China raced to provide vaccines to Africa, which received only 1% of global COVID-19 vaccine supplies.

China also funded the construction of a new headquarters for the African Center for Disease Control in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

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Chinese outbound tourists key to egyptian tourism.

"Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget," an Egyptian tourist expert said, adding Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

At the Luxor temple, an enormous ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River, Huang Zhao, a Chinese tourist, was taking photos while listening to the tour guide on the temple’s history.

“The temple is a masterpiece of art. I used to read many books on Egyptology, and visiting the archeological sites was a dream,” said Huang, who also visited the Great Pyramids, Egypt’s southern cities including Aswan, and sea resorts in Hurghada.

Meanwhile, Chen Wu, a 22-year-old student who came with her parents from Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong Province, said she had planned this trip to Egypt two years before.

“My father always encourages me to read history books, especially on ancient civilizations that are similar to the Chinese one,” Chen said, adding that she used to save her pocket money for buying replicas from old markets in Egypt.

“Ten days are not enough to visit all the archeological sites I intend to,” she said while visiting the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. “It is a chef-d’oeuvre of ancient architecture.”

The recovery of the tourism industry in China is now providing a significant boost to outbound tourism. This surge in outbound travel coincided with one of China’s most significant annual holidays, the Golden Week, which began on Sept. 29 and extended for eight days. During this period, Chinese people celebrated both the country’s National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“In the world’s No. 2 economy, spending on holidays and inbound and outbound tourism is expected to surge, contributing to the world’s tourism recovery,” said Mohamed Othman, chairman of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee in Upper Egypt.

According to China Tourism Academy, a Beijing-based research institution, overseas destinations received a total of 40.37 million visitors from the Chinese mainland during the first half of the year.

“Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget,” the tourist expert said, adding that the Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

To cater to Chinese tourists, Egypt’s tourism authorities have coordinated the installation of signs in Chinese languages in all archeological sites, temples, and hotels and provided umpteen tour guides who speak Chinese.

According to Fitch Ratings, an American credit rating agency, China was one of the world’s largest tourism source markets before the pandemic, with a total international tourism expenditure of 254.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

It expects a revival of Chinese outbound tourism to boost growth prospects in economies with substantial tourism sectors.

“With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China is a treasure for the world tourism sector,” said Ahmad Amer, an archeological inspector in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Chinese tourists have a craving for the ancient Egyptian civilization and often spend 10-15 days visiting the Pyramids, temples in Luxor and Aswan, the Aswan High Dam, and ancient markets in the capital besides staying for a few days in Red Sea resorts, according to Amer.

With moderate warm weather, beautiful beaches, and enormous ancient attractions, besides the recently improved infrastructure, Egypt is a good destination for Chinese tourists, Amer said.

“The advantage of the Chinese tourists is that they repeat their trips to Egypt, especially stays in the monument-rich city of Luxor, to know more about secrets of ancient Egypt,” said Ahmed Oraby, a tour guide in Luxor.

Chinese tourists spend good money on hand-made and heritage products, replicas, and souvenirs, the tour guide said, adding that starting from November, more Chinese tourists will come for their winter vacations.

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How to calculate your personal inflation rate, imf fiscal chief cautions against fiscal expansion in election year, calls for rebuilding buffers, un chief calls for reform of global financial architecture, particularly with regard to debt, xinhua news agency.

Founded in 1931, Xinhua News Agency is one of the largest news organizations in the world, with over 10,000 employees across the globe. As the main source of news and information for China, Xinhua plays a key role in shaping the country's media landscape and communicating its perspectives to the world. The agency produces a wide range of content, including text news articles, photos, videos, and social media posts, in both Chinese and English, and its reports are widely used by media organizations around the world. Xinhua also operates several international bureaus, including in key capitals like Washington, D.C., Moscow, and London, to provide in-depth coverage of global events.

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Feature: Chinese outbound tourists key to Egyptian tourism

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2023-10-07 13:44:15

Chinese tourists visit the Giza Pyramids scenic spot in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

"Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget," an Egyptian tourist expert said, adding Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

CAIRO, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- At the Luxor temple, an enormous ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River, Huang Zhao, a Chinese tourist, was taking photos while listening to the tour guide on the temple's history.

"The temple is a masterpiece of art. I used to read many books on Egyptology, and visiting the archeological sites was a dream," said Huang, who also visited the Great Pyramids, Egypt's southern cities including Aswan, and sea resorts in Hurghada.

Meanwhile, Chen Wu, a 22-year-old student who came with her parents from Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province, said she had planned this trip to Egypt two years before.

"My father always encourages me to read history books, especially on ancient civilizations that are similar to the Chinese one," Chen said, adding that she used to save her pocket money for buying replicas from old markets in Egypt.

"Ten days are not enough to visit all the archeological sites I intend to," she said while visiting the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. "It is a chef-d'oeuvre of ancient architecture."

The recovery of the tourism industry in China is now providing a significant boost to outbound tourism. This surge in outbound travel coincided with one of China's most significant annual holidays, the Golden Week, which began on Sept. 29 and extended for eight days. During this period, Chinese people celebrated both the country's National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"In the world's No. 2 economy, spending on holidays and inbound and outbound tourism is expected to surge, contributing to the world's tourism recovery," said Mohamed Othman, chairman of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee in Upper Egypt.

According to China Tourism Academy, a Beijing-based research institution, overseas destinations received a total of 40.37 million visitors from the Chinese mainland during the first half of the year.

"Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget," the tourist expert said, adding that the Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

This photo taken on Jan. 24, 2023 shows relief paintings inside the tomb of King Seti I at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

To cater to Chinese tourists, Egypt's tourism authorities have coordinated the installation of signs in Chinese languages in all archeological sites, temples, and hotels and provided umpteen tour guides who speak Chinese.

According to Fitch Ratings, an American credit rating agency, China was one of the world's largest tourism source markets before the pandemic, with a total international tourism expenditure of 254.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

It expects a revival of Chinese outbound tourism to boost growth prospects in economies with substantial tourism sectors.

"With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China is a treasure for the world tourism sector," said Ahmad Amer, an archeological inspector in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Chinese tourists have a craving for the ancient Egyptian civilization and often spend 10-15 days visiting the Pyramids, temples in Luxor and Aswan, the Aswan High Dam, and ancient markets in the capital besides staying for a few days in Red Sea resorts, according to Amer.

People dive around corals in the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt, on Oct. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

With moderate warm weather, beautiful beaches, and enormous ancient attractions, besides the recently improved infrastructure, Egypt is a good destination for Chinese tourists, Amer said.

"The advantage of the Chinese tourists is that they repeat their trips to Egypt, especially stays in the monument-rich city of Luxor, to know more about secrets of ancient Egypt," said Ahmed Oraby, a tour guide in Luxor.

Chinese tourists spend good money on hand-made and heritage products, replicas, and souvenirs, the tour guide said, adding that starting from November, more Chinese tourists will come for their winter vacations. ■

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Feature: chinese outbound tourists key to egyptian tourism.

CAIRO: At the Luxor temple, an enormous ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River, Huang Zhao, a Chinese tourist, was taking photos while listening to the tour guide on the temple’s history.

“The temple is a masterpiece of art. I used to read many books on Egyptology, and visiting the archeological sites was a dream,” said Huang, who also visited the Great Pyramids, Egypt’s southern cities including Aswan, and sea resorts in Hurghada.

Meanwhile, Chen Wu, a 22-year-old student who came with her parents from Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong Province, said she had planned this trip to Egypt two years before.

“My father always encourages me to read history books, especially on ancient civilizations that are similar to the Chinese one,” Chen said, adding that she used to save her pocket money for buying replicas from old markets in Egypt.

“Ten days are not enough to visit all the archeological sites I intend to,” she said while visiting the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. “It is a chef-d’oeuvre of ancient architecture.”

The recovery of the tourism industry in China is now providing a significant boost to outbound tourism. This surge in outbound travel coincided with one of China’s most significant annual holidays, the Golden Week, which began on Sept. 29 and extended for eight days. During this period, Chinese people celebrated both the country’s National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“In the world’s No. 2 economy, spending on holidays and inbound and outbound tourism is expected to surge, contributing to the world’s tourism recovery,” said Mohamed Othman, chairman of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee in Upper Egypt.

According to China Tourism Academy, a Beijing-based research institution, overseas destinations received a total of 40.37 million visitors from the Chinese mainland during the first half of the year.

“Chinese tourists are very well-educated and have a great passion for learning about the Egyptian civilization and travel with a good budget,” the tourist expert said, adding that the Chinese tourists will help revive the Egyptian tourism sector, one of the primary sources of foreign currency.

To cater to Chinese tourists, Egypt’s tourism authorities have coordinated the installation of signs in Chinese languages in all archeological sites, temples, and hotels and provided umpteen tour guides who speak Chinese.

According to Fitch Ratings, an American credit rating agency, China was one of the world’s largest tourism source markets before the pandemic, with a total international tourism expenditure of 254.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

It expects a revival of Chinese outbound tourism to boost growth prospects in economies with substantial tourism sectors.

“With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China is a treasure for the world tourism sector,” said Ahmad Amer, an archeological inspector in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Chinese tourists have a craving for the ancient Egyptian civilization and often spend 10-15 days visiting the Pyramids, temples in Luxor and Aswan, the Aswan High Dam, and ancient markets in the capital besides staying for a few days in Red Sea resorts, according to Amer.

With moderate warm weather, beautiful beaches, and enormous ancient attractions, besides the recently improved infrastructure, Egypt is a good destination for Chinese tourists, Amer said.

“The advantage of the Chinese tourists is that they repeat their trips to Egypt, especially stays in the monument-rich city of Luxor, to know more about secrets of ancient Egypt,” said Ahmed Oraby, a tour guide in Luxor.

Chinese tourists spend good money on hand-made and heritage products, replicas, and souvenirs, the tour guide said, adding that starting from November, more Chinese tourists will come for their winter vacations.

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