As China's economy continues to boom and people get richer, more Chinese are beginning to travel abroad, which Garranah sees as a good opportunity for Egypt's tourism.

China listed Egypt as a country of destination for Chinese tourists in May of 2002, thus opening the door for a large inflow of Chinese tourists into Egypt.

According to Garranah, some 35,000 Chinese tourists came to Egypt in 2005. In the first nine months of 2006, 34,813 Chinese tourists visited Egypt, jumping by 39 percent.

"We expect some 65,000 Chinese tourists to visit Egypt for the whole year," he said, adding these figures are quite low but annual growth rate is high.

The Chinese market is very important with high potential to be tapped, and Egypt has to be prepared to accommodate more Chinese tourists, said Garranah, who ran a big tour company group before becoming the tourism minister in December of 2005.

To lure more Chinese tourists, Garranah said that his ministry has been working to provide special services to Chinese. "It is very important to ensure that we have more Chinese-speaking tour guides, while in the hotel, we should have menus in Chinese and service men who can speak Chinese," he said.

More than that, the minister himself will visit China in mid- November to seek more tourism cooperation with the Chinese government and promote Egyptian tourism among Chinese, who Garranah said are willing to spend money.

He also wanted to use his first visit to China, where he would tour Guangzhou in south China and the capital city of Beijing, to learn more about how China has successfully developed its tourism sector.

"We know that China will be No. 1 destination for foreign tourists in the world soon. Definitely, people would like to know what you have been doing. Why you have come out so successful?" said Garranah, adding that China is a "case study."

"China has been amazing in all aspects and your government is doing perfectly in all sectors in the last 20 years, including tourism. (So) we would like to know how you have accomplished," he said.

He said that Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who visited China last month, talked a lot about good examples from China and how they could be implemented in Egypt.
Commenting on Sino-Egyptian relations, Garranah said that this year marked the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"The relations are very strong, but they need to be even stronger. Both sides should explore more opportunities for investment and cooperation in all aspects," he said.

"Tourism is the best method of combining cultures and reducing cultural differences from one country to anther," he said.

China and Egypt established diplomatic relations on May 30, 1956, making Egypt the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with China.

BRINGING MORE MONEY TO EGYPT

Tourism is a key industry for Egypt, not only because it is top earner of Egypt's hard currency, but also because it absorbs many laborers.

In 2005, Egypt received 8.6 million foreign tourists, up 6 percent from 8.1 million in 2004, and foreigners spent some 6.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, up about 8.3 percent from 6 billion dollars in 2004, said Garranah.