The board of directors of the Egyptian Chamber of Tourism Companies affirmed that the Chamber has made notable progress in the transport file, in both aviation and land transport, as part of the board's report to the general assembly, which will be discussed at its meeting on December 29 this month.
The Chamber said in a statement that the Transport Committee made great efforts in this important file, organizing two conferences for companies to explain the latest developments regarding the new system of IATA (the International Air Transport Association), launched in December 2018 and known as ISS GEN NEW, to expand tourism companies' participation in IATA. Training on the system took place in April and September 2019, attended by about 150 companies, and all of the companies' questions about this system were answered.
The Chamber's board report added that, in follow-up with IATA, contact was made with companies that had not paid the annual subscription to ensure that their membership would not be canceled, and contact was also made with companies that had not submitted their annual financial statements to coordinate with them on completing the required procedures before IATA takes any action against them.
Regarding the aviation file, the report explained that the Chamber organized a meeting with EgyptAir in January 2019, attended by the Vice President of the Commercial Sector and more than 200 companies, at which the problems facing the sector with EgyptAir were discussed. The meetings resulted in studying an increase in East Asia flights to Korea and Japan, studying the operation of São Paulo and Malaysia routes, and studying a tripartite protocol between the Chamber, EgyptAir and the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority to set an incentive price for European markets outside peak periods.
The aviation meetings also addressed studying an amendment to the return booking system for Abu Simbel flights in light of the arrival of the new fleet of modern aircraft, amending the very early departure times of domestic flights, and studying a reduction in the booking deposit for groups. It was decided to monitor EgyptAir's official website and its prices, which compete with tourism companies, the incentive percentage in the fare basis was amended, and a legal solution was reached to allow access to the group cards of companies booked from abroad in order to avoid problems with modifying bookings.
On another note, it was agreed to price Hajj and Umrah flight tickets early, well before the start of the season, with the possibility of dispensing with the additional letter of guarantee for Umrah groups, in addition to simplifying the booking method for Umrah groups and separating the booking letter from the actual booking, while increasing the percentage of permitted name changes and increasing the number of flights at the most requested times.
