Experts reveal to RT: Will Egypt’s efforts to attract 30 million tourists to a “hot region” succeed?

Egypt seeks to enhance its position as a global tourist destination, and is making efforts to achieve the dream of 30 million tourists, in light of the growing interest in the tourism sector as one of the most important tributaries of the Egyptian economy, through a series of initiatives and updates in the infrastructure, improving tourism services, and expanding the base for promoting various tourist destinations.

Egypt’s efforts come in conjunction with reports indicating that the region is no longer attractive to international tourism because it is a conflict zone, with the exception of Egypt, which has succeeded in achieving tourist attraction despite all the conflicts witnessed in the region, and has a tourism sector capable of withstanding, and is still an attractive tourist destination for international tourism, according to what the Egyptian government announced today.

According to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Egypt seeks to provide the largest possible number of tourist areas to encourage tourism investment, and to establish more than 200,000 new rooms over the next five years, considering this a very important step towards achieving the goal of 30 million tourists every year, which Egypt is targeting in the coming period.

Regarding the extent of the success of Egypt’s plan to attract 30 million tourists, Amr Sedky, former head of the Tourism Committee in the Egyptian House of Representatives, described Egypt’s moves in the tourism file in statements to RT Arabic, as “efforts in the midst of a turbulent region, especially since the situation in the region is witnessing changes every day, and the increase in conflict spots makes it described as an inflamed region.”

He added, “The tourism and investment sector in general is escaping conflicts and crises. Egypt has the right to strive in its plan and vision to attract investments, but regional conditions will not help in achieving the target completely.”

He explained that “the Egyptian state has succeeded in implementing many tourism attraction projects in the areas of Nuweiba, Taba, Ras Sudr, and Marsa Alam on the Red Sea, and there are many tourism projects and rooms that need the state’s attention, because it is better to benefit from these existing projects and remove the obstacles they face before moving to expand into new projects.”

Egypt’s plan to increase tourism attraction depends on the multiplicity and diversity of its tourist destinations, as confirmed by the former head of the Tourism Committee in the Egyptian Parliament. Egypt is one of the countries rich in tourist attractions, as it has archaeological tourism in archaeological areas, pyramids, temples and museums, recreational tourism sites in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean coasts, religious and spiritual tourism in the places of the Holy Family Trail, St. Catherine’s Mountains and the ancient mosques in Cairo, and medical tourism sites, as the number of medical tourism sites in Egypt is estimated at 1356 sites.

“The Egyptian state has worked to provide incentives to the tourism sector with the aim of increasing the number of tourism rooms, including the initiative presented by the government worth 50 billion pounds to enhance investments in hotel rooms and support the tourism sector, with the aim of providing loan facilities and investment incentives to encourage the private sector’s participation in the tourism industry in the country, but there must be greater interest in reducing the tax burdens on investors in the tourism sector, and each ministry should not deal according to its personal interests only, but all state institutions should view tourism as a national project to advance the Egyptian economy, especially since there are many competing countries that have abolished taxes and reduced them for investors in the tourism sector as a locomotive of development,” Sedky explained.

According to the Egyptian Prime Minister, the number of hotel rooms currently available, established and operating, allows Egypt to reach a maximum of 18 million tourists per year. To achieve the larger goal of 30 million tourists, Egypt needs 200,000 hotel rooms, which is currently being worked on in El Alamein and the North Coast, with a large number of rooms under construction, in addition to other areas on the Red Sea coast.

For his part, Hossam Hazaa, a member of the Federation of Egyptian Tourism Chambers, told RT Arabic that the Egyptian state is implementing major investments in the tourism sector, especially in the North Coast region, in light of the weak number of hotel rooms there, which did not exceed 4,000 rooms despite its importance and status. Therefore, the state has begun to target the establishment and implementation of 50,000 rooms in the North Coast.

He added that there is a plan by the Egyptian state to double the number of hotel rooms in Egypt as a whole from 240,000 rooms to nearly 500,000 rooms, to accommodate what the state targets and receive 30 million tourists annually.

He pointed out that 7 million tourists arrived at a rate of 70 million tourist nights during the first 7 months of this year, but most of them are beach tourists. Their revenues amounted to about 6 billion and 600 million dollars, and by the end of the year, the number of tourists is expected to reach about 15 million tourists, meaning that the number of tourists will not be less than the numbers that arrived in Egypt last year, which means that the situation in the region will not affect the tourism sector in light of what Egypt enjoys.

Source: RT