Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anany held a meeting with the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Deputy Assistant Administrator Andrew Plitt on Monday to discuss cooperation in the field of programmes to support sustainable tourism development in Egypt.
This was done within the framework of the ongoing preparations for the upcoming hosting of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh this November.
El-Anany began the meeting by welcoming Plitt and his accompanying delegation, stressing the ministry’s interest in green and sustainable tourism.
He then reviewed the state’s efforts to transform the tourism sector in Egypt into an environmentally friendly sector, pointing out that Sharm El-Sheikh was included in the first stage of the transition to a green economy and that all its hotel establishments were converted to green hotels.
The minister also noted the conversion of all tourist vehicles in the city to operate with environmentally friendly mechanisms prior to the climate summit.
Moreover, He discussed the ministry’s efforts to improve the quality of tourism services provided in hotel establishments, including the re-evaluation of hotel establishments across the different governorates of Egypt in accordance with the new classification standards (HC) and raising the efficiency of their internet services.
For his part, Plitt reviewed the activities of USAID in the coming period in preparation for Egypt’s hosting of the COP27, and the special interest that the US attaches to developing a new cooperative framework with Egypt in the areas of climate protection, especially green tourism in the Red Sea.
It should be noted that there is ongoing cooperation between the ministry and USAID in many projects, including lowering the groundwater level in the areas of Kom Ombo and Edfu in Aswan, Kom Al-Shoqafa in Alexandria, and other projects for developing and raising the efficiency of services at tourist and archaeological sites to support cultural tourism in Historical Cairo and Luxor.
