Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa presented the new national strategy for tourism in Egypt, and stated, “Since October last year, the ministry began to develop policies for developing the tourism sector until 2028 to reach 30 million tourists. Besides, the strategy aims to achieve annual growth rates ranging from 25 to 30%, based on the level of 3,000 institutions in five different chambers of tourism in Egypt, led by a strong private sector through the Egyptian Tourism Federation.”
During a symposium organized by the Egyptian Lebanese Businessmen Friendship Association on Monday evening, the minister said that the national strategy for the development of the tourism sector is based on three elements that represent the triangle of success to achieve the target of 30 million tourists. The first element of this strategy represented doubling capacity available to Egypt Air 3 times the current one until 2028, in addition to, raising tourism awareness and protecting tourists from harassment and fraud.
Issa pointed out that Egypt’s market share is less than 1% in 2019 and therefore much less than its components in light of the elements and global demand estimated at 1,500 million tourists, noting that the problem is not on demand side, but rather on supply side, as Egypt’s tourist attractions are endless.
“Egypt’s tourism enjoys a huge competitive advantage in 5 types of tourism, and our study also proved that there are 272 million potential tourists interested in the current Egyptian tourism product, with some modifications. Furthermore, the tourism movement grew starting from the first two months of this year by 34% compared to the same period last year, it is expected to grow this year by 30%,” Issa elaborated. “However, Egypt, with the current potentials, cannot serve more than 14 to 15 million tourists annually, effectively and efficiently, due to limited flights and seats coming to Egypt, low rates of low-cost airlines, low volume of tourism investment of all kinds, lack of a general organizational plan for tourist areas, and lack of balance in tourism. The geographical distribution and star ratings of the existing hotel are commensurate with targeted tourist segments and a non-competitive value for individual tourists from high-spending segments and not relying heavily on technology.”
The minister revealed that a plan to develop the pyramids area is currently being prepared in cooperation with the Minister of Housing to develop the area from the pyramid to Saqqara to locate hotels and completely reorganize the tourism movement. Along with an ambitious plan for the digital transformation of the tourism and antiquities sector which will be approved by the Supreme Council of Antiquities within two years.
