China International Import Expo: Egyptian tourism company benefits from Chinese market

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02:44

Egypt is among the guests of honour at the Expo, and the country has been committed to advancing economic relations with China. CGTN's Yasser Hakim met with Mohamed El Masry, an owner of a tourism company that attracts Chinese tourists to Egypt. He spoke about his experience working with the Chinese.

Mohamed El Masry's company began work with China in 2001 attracting tourists from Hong Kong and then mainland China in 2014. He found it difficult at first to communicate because of the language barrier and cultural diversity.

MOHAMED EL MASRY OWNER, TROPIC GROUP "Definitely it's a special market because the culture, the behaviour, the food is totally different in that market to another. Their culture and our culture concerning business and number of population is the same. The population in China is very high. Population in Egypt very high."

El Masry accompanied Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on his first trip to Beijing in 2014. Since then he opened offices in Beijing and Shenzhen.

YASSER HAKIM CGTN CORRESPONDENT "How do you describe doing work with Chinese counterparts and Business relations between the Egyptians and Chinese?"

MOHAMED EL MASRY OWNER, TROPIC GROUP "The positive thing in business is that they have a system and they respect the system they have which gives a very good advantage when dealing with them. This facilitates cooperation. They know what they need and they know what they do. This makes business easy with them."

YASSER HAKIM CGTN CORRESPONDENT "How important is the Chinese market to Egyptian tourism and your company?"

MOHAMED EL MASRY OWNER, TROPIC GROUP "The Chinese market was very important to Egypt all way around especially during the period between 2011 till 2016 with the drop of international tourists. The Chinese kept coming to Egypt maybe the number decreased but it never stopped."

Because of his success with the Chinese market, El Masry's company has become one of the leading tour operators in Egypt. Yasser Hakim CGTN Cairo.