6pm
Thursday 24 November 2022
Books – Youssef Afifi:
Ahmed Eissa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, announced that Egypt needs about 500,000 tourist rooms to receive between 30 and 40 million tourists a year, noting that Egypt now has 211,000 tourist rooms.
The minister referred to a study conducted on many countries of the world, which revealed that there are 272 million tourists from 12 countries who have confirmed their willingness and desire for tourism in Egypt.
The government said it would increase tourism revenue over the next 3 years to $30 billion, to close the foreign exchange gap and exploit the country’s tourism potential to boost industry revenue, which is a major source of difficult currency.
Tourism officials and experts believe that these figures and revenues can be achieved after the decline in the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound against the dollar and the consequent increase in the competitiveness of Egyptian tourism, which has led to a reduction in the cost of travel and accommodation for tourists.
Officials and experts welcomed the government’s efforts to increase tourism revenues, to close the foreign exchange gap and to exploit the country’s tourism potential to boost the revenues of the industry, which is a major source of hard currency .
Remove obstacles
Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Dr Khaled Sherif said the digital transformation said achieving $30 billion in tourism revenue within 3 years requires removing all barriers faced by tourists, from arrival at the airport until the end of the trip.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, had asked the investors in the tourism sector to prepare a list of all requests and proposals for the advancement of the sector, saying: Even if the bird’s milk comes to support this sector.. Dream and we will make dreams come true in support of this vital industry.
Sherif explained to Masrawy that the obstacles are represented by the actions of some Egyptians, including: harassing workers at the airport, running after tourists to get a taxi, and the tourist’s inability to use public transport for fear of harassment, especially in archaeological sites and museums outside the scope of the place.
According to the Prime Minister’s statements, a comprehensive development has been carried out at Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport, which qualifies it to receive more than 10 million tourists throughout the year.
The Assistant Minister for Tourism and Antiquities confirmed that the £30bn meant around 200%, and that that comes through frequent visits from tourists, continuing: ‘But how is it done and there are inconveniences that occur towards of the tourists?”
And the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities continued: “It is not impossible for us to reach this number, but on condition that the whole country works on it and the first requirement is the rule of law”.
The government has previously launched several initiatives to support tourism after the Corona pandemic, most notably the Central Bank’s initiative to postpone bank quotas for tourism companies for a period of 3 years and for workers for a period of 3 years. of 6 months, to end by the end of this year, and reduce the price of fuel for tourist trips to 15 cents, Exemption from the tax on tourist and hotel properties, and defer payment of the debts of tourist facilities to the State.
Half a million rooms
Majed El-Gamal, head of the Taba Investors Association for Tourism Development, presented Masrawy with the optimal plan to reach $30 billion in 3 years, according to the Prime Minister, which includes four axes:
First – Increase the number of operational hotel rooms to 500,000 by completing all projects under construction.
Second: increase the number of airports in Egypt and expand Al-Qaim to reach an annual operating capacity of between 20 and 25 million tourists.
Third: good marketing aimed at the tourist with the possibility of spending a lot and not at the tourist with a low income.
Fourth – Encourage and assist investors to complete their projects and preserve the existing one, by deferring any financial obligations they currently have, such as taxes, land payments, fees, and the many fines currently imposed on them by state agencies, and eliminating them completely from existing projects in new areas which suffered from 2011 till now due to many force majeure circumstances (such as Taba/Nuweiba area).
Egypt’s liquidity reserves fell for the third consecutive month, reaching a record $33.143 billion at the end of last July.
Satohi Mostafa, head of the Association of Tourism Investors in Aswan, confirmed that Egypt can reach $30 billion within 3 years, provided several facilities are provided.
And “Stohi”, by Masrawy, has reviewed these facilities, including: reducing flight prices and organizing programs that include the price of the trip and the places in the rooms, provided that the Egyptian companies are the organizers of these trips and not the are small agencies of external companies, with the solidarity of all parts of the tourism chambers, the Tourism Promotion Board and the Ministries of Tourism, Aviation, Foreign Affairs and Culture to develop a unified program led by the Egyptian tourism companies, with the aim to render the entire tourist income for the benefit of Egypt and not for the benefit of foreign companies.
Satohi stressed the need to focus on ecotourism, as the city of Aswan includes Nubian villages and houses, and this requires cleaning, organizing, facilitating, painting and promoting from now on.
He stressed the need to announce this tourism in government programs in a timely and serious manner, and to speak in the media and visual, printed and audio media about the benefits and beauty of ecological, seaside, recreational, archaeological and cultural tourism, as well as to pave roads and services and raise their standard, educating tourism workers and training them in a good and organized way on the importance of quickly preserving tourists, spreading safety and making roads safe to preserve tourists and reduce traffic accidents.
Satohi stressed the need to take advantage of the energy crisis in Europe, because it helps the arrival of tourists to the Middle East region from this November until the end of February 2023, as Europe is looking for warm regions and there are many tourists from Germany, France, Switzerland and America flock to Egypt, especially the city of Aswan, because of their concern about the energy crisis in Europe, which requires attention, highlighting domestic propaganda and educating Egyptians about it, but focusing mainly on foreign tourism.
And he stressed the need to equip all hotels, as the winter season is promising, as all hotels are “full” and we need additional rooms, which requires the removal of all obstacles that the hotel industry as a whole has to deal in terms of opening closed rooms and hotels, solving energy, electricity, water, tax, loan crisis and raising the standard of hotels, facilitating financing for investors in the coming period, and exploiting, advertising and promoting lake tourism and fishing trips.
