By Abdel ElKader Ramadan, Aswat Masriya Twenty days have passed since the launching of the #ThisisEgypt hashtag to promote tourism on social media platforms; but interaction remains low on Facebook and Twitter, while Instagram and YouTube had a better chance at garnering attention. Minister of Tourism Hisham Za’zou’ launched the campaign in an effort to dispel what he views as a negative impression of tourism in Egypt. Egypt has been striving to overcome the negative effects of the recent crash of a Russian jetliner over the Sinai Peninsula, which killed all 224 people on board, leading to the banning of flights to Sharm al-Sheikh by Russia, Turkey and U.K. The hashtag relies on individuals, particularly influential youth with large following on social media, posting pictures of their personal travel experiences. The ministry entrusted well-known marketing communications brand J. Walter Thompson (JWT) to run the campaign. However, interaction on social media did not meet the minister’s expectations. Most of the posts on social media platforms were not representative of the main idea posited by the campaign, but rather contributions of news websites regarding the tourism sector mainly dominated the scene. Other…
#ThisIsEgypt Campaign Prompts Mixed Reactions as Egypt Struggles to Attract Tourists
January 2, 2016
