Egypt has participated in the ministerial meeting of the “Future of Global Tourism” summit, which was held in Barcelona, Spain, on 26, and 27 October.
On behalf of Khaled El-Anany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ghada Shalaby, Deputy Minister for Tourism Affairs, took part in the event, which was organised to review the policies and strategies of different countries in tourism promotion and measures taken to deal with the pandemic’s impact on the global tourism industry.
About 20 tourism ministers from different countries of the world and representatives of many international organizations and institutions participated in the summit. It witnessed the participation of more than 80 speakers from 70 countries. The summit tackled several topics, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, sustainability, cultural identities, and travel facilitation.
In her speech, the Deputy Minister highlighted the Egyptian experience in the resumption of tourism activities, while ensuring the safety of workers in the tourism sector, citizens and tourists.
She also pointed out the most important measures taken by the Ministry in this regard, including the application of precautionary measures and health controls firmly in all tourist facilities including, hotels, archaeological sites and museums.
She indicated that Egypt also completed the vaccination of workers in the tourism sector, and requirements for entering the country have been set, namely that tourists receive the coronavirus vaccine or submit a negative PCR result.
She also shed light on the ministry’s efforts in digital transformation, including facilitating the procedures for obtaining an entry visa to Egypt.
Recently, citizens of 28 additional countries were allowed to obtain a visa electronically through the website designated for that, bringing the total number of countries whose citizens can electronically obtain a tourist visa to Egypt to 74 countries.
She added that the ministry is seeking to link cultural tourism and beach tourism, through the development of domestic airline routes linking Luxor, Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Aswan and Abu Simbel. She noted that starting from 27 October, a new airline route will operate linking Sharm El-Sheikh and Luxor at an affordable price.
She also referred to the features of the media strategy for tourism promotion in Egypt, which aims to highlight the unique tourism components of the Egyptian destination and attract different segments of tourists.
At the end of her speech, the Deputy Minister stressed that the future of tourism is based on sustainable tourism by providing various job opportunities in complementary activities to tourism activity such as schools, universities and hospitals. “There is a necessity to continue to support the digital transformation to keep pace with global technological development as well as investment Infrastructure to support various tourism activities,” she concluded.
