Egypt signs Celina as brand ambassador, charms Indian tourists

New Delhi, Apr 19 (UNI) One of the oldest civilizations Egypt today announced the hot and sizzling bollywood actress Celina Jaitley as its brand ambassador, aiming at doubling its tourists inflow from India in next two years.

''We are receiving a good number of Indian tourists from past two years. Keeping in mind this rising trend, we are endeavouring to double the figure by 2009. Celina Jaitley as our brand ambassador to represent Egypt in India will assist us in achieving our aim,'' Egyptian Tourism Authority Chairman Amr El Ezaby said.

Talking about the immense potential of the tourism market from India, Mr Ezaby said till today it has pumped 850 million dollars in India and plans similar investments ahead to encourage traffic between both the countries.

When asked about what are the other ways in which it was trying to woo Indian tourists, he said seven flights from Egypt to India were in the pipeline.

The Egyptian tourism office has kick-started a major advertisment campaign in Indian market with travel agents and media, he added.

Last year the Land of Pyramids received nine million tourists worldwide, registering an increase of almost six per cent since 2005.

The Egyptian tourism authority is mulling to double the tourists inflow from across the world by 2014.

The US with one million tourists, Russia with 998,00, Germany with 4,43,000 and Saudi Arabia with 3,88,00 are among the tourism-generating nations for Egypt.

UNI