Nile Cruisen Team 
Dr. Nader Al-Beblawi, Chairman of the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies, met with Imad Al-Hejazin, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, within the framework of his visit to Egypt. The meeting discussed ways to enhance tourism cooperation between the two countries, and the role of the private sector in preparing and implementing joint tourism programs and products, which contribute to attracting more incoming tourist traffic to Egypt and Jordan.
Al-Beblawi praised the role of the Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities in achieving a Jordanian tourism boom and his efforts to promote tourism growth in the Kingdom, noting that the tourism sector has great opportunities to enhance this cooperation through integration between the tourism, archaeological, and spiritual components that the two countries enjoy.
He stressed the importance of the proposals presented during the meeting held by Sherif Fathi, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, with his Jordanian counterpart, to enhance tourism cooperation between the two countries, which open new horizons for the Egyptian and Jordanian private sectors to design joint tourism programs and market them in international markets.
Promote tourism between Egypt and Jordan.
The head of the Chamber of Tourism Companies explained that one of the most prominent areas of cooperation proposed is the preparation of joint Egyptian-Jordanian tourism programs that combine tourist, archaeological and spiritual destinations in the two countries, allowing the tourist to visit more than one destination during one trip, and to benefit from the air flight connectivity capabilities available between Egypt and Jordan and the close distance between them.
Al-Beblawi said that these programs can particularly target distant tourist markets, especially the markets of the Far East and Latin America, stressing that providing a joint tourism product between the two countries gives the region a greater competitive advantage and allows access to new segments of tourists.
He stressed that Egyptian and Jordanian tourism companies possess significant experience that can be built upon in this field, stressing the importance of involving the private sector in both countries in the stages of preparing, designing, and marketing these programs, ensuring that they emerge in the form of real, executable tourism products that can be marketed in the targeted markets.
Al-Beblawi pointed out that religious and spiritual tourism represents one of the most important areas that could witness broad cooperation between Egypt and Jordan, in light of the two countries’ possession of religious and historical sites of global importance to hundreds of millions around the world.
He explained that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is preparing to celebrate in 2030 the two thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Jesus Christ at the Baptism site on the Jordan River, which is a religious and touristic occasion of global importance. The Kingdom has begun preparing for it by forming a national committee to prepare for the celebration, with the participation of official authorities, leaders and churches concerned.
He stressed that the baptism site represents one of the most important Christian religious sites in the region, and has a global spiritual status, making it a key element that can be built upon in designing and marketing joint spiritual tourism programs between Egypt and Jordan.
He explained that the birth, baptism, and resurrection of Jesus Christ represent major milestones of great spiritual importance for Christians around the world, and they can be built upon to design integrated tourism programs linking religious and historical sites in Egypt and Jordan.
He pointed out that Egypt has an important advantage in this field through the Holy Family’s itinerary in Egypt, with its religious, historical, and tourism value, which opens the way for the preparation of joint programs that combine the baptism site in Jordan and the Holy Family’s itinerary in Egypt, in addition to a number of important Christian and archaeological sites in the two countries.
He added that this type of program could be transformed into an integrated global tourism product that addresses Christian markets around the world through one trip that brings together Egypt and Jordan, pointing out that Egyptian-Jordanian tourism cooperation represents an important model of integration between two countries that possess integrated tourism, archaeological and spiritual components, stressing that the interest of the two countries requires working to attract new markets through joint tourism products, instead of competition, in a way that increases the attractiveness of the region as a whole to international tourists.
Al-Beblawi stressed that the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies welcomes any steps that would enhance cooperation between Egyptian tourism companies and their Jordanian counterparts, and will support efforts aimed at transforming what was proposed at the government level into real tourism programs and products that are marketable and implementable.
