Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, today received Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism, and his accompanying delegation at the Grand Egyptian Museum, during his current official visit to Egypt.
The meeting came as part of the ongoing bilateral meetings held between the Egyptian and Qatari sides to advance and strengthen frameworks of joint cooperation between the two countries, particularly in tourism and tourism investment, and to discuss opportunities to launch distinctive initiatives and programs that benefit the sector in both countries in the coming period.
During the meeting, they discussed ways to benefit from the variety of tourism assets in the two countries and to set mechanisms for implementing integrated tourism programs aimed at attracting tourists from long-haul markets, including Japan and Australia, by preparing unified packages combining Cairo and Doha and including a number of tourist destinations in both countries, making use of Qatar's airline network that covers most of these promising markets.
It was agreed to exchange professional visits between tourism officials of the two countries and representatives of the private tourism sector in the coming short period, to carry out professional tours of the various tourist destinations in both countries in order to draft a single integrated tourism program between them for long-haul markets. These visits will begin with a delegation of officials from Visit Qatar and Qatar Holidays to Egypt. In addition, expanded meetings will be held between the Qatari delegation and Egyptian businesspeople, the Egyptian Tourism Federation and the tourism chambers, and representatives of the ministry and the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, to discuss related matters.
They also discussed ways of joint cooperation in training and capacity building, with a focus on mechanisms for exchanging expertise in the hospitality and hotel sectors. In this context, Sherif Fathy reviewed some of the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in training and investing in the human resources of the ministry and Egypt's tourism sector, including the ministry's plan to soon launch an e-learning platform to train and qualify employees of the ministry and the private tourism sector under the name (EGTAP.com). He added that this platform will offer specialized, diverse and accredited training programs that keep pace with market requirements.
He also spoke about the strategic cooperation protocols whose signing he witnessed at the beginning of this week between the Chamber of Hotel Establishments and two of the world's leading international companies in digital hospitality and hotel training.
The meeting also addressed ways to implement joint marketing and promotional campaigns, mutual participation in tourism exhibitions and festivals in both countries, and opportunities to boost Qatari investments in Egypt's tourism sector.
This visit reflects the continuing momentum in tourism relations between Egypt and Qatar, which was evident in the participation of the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities in the 51st session of the UN Tourism Regional Commission for the Middle East, held in Doha last February, reflecting the mutual appreciation and continuous communication between the two sides.
The meeting was attended by Eng. Ahmed Youssef, Assistant Minister for Strategic Departments Affairs and Acting CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority; Nasser Ashkanani, Advisor to the Chairman of Qatar Tourism; Abdullah Al-Falasi, Director of the Office of the Chairman of Qatar Tourism; and Ahmed Al-Junaidi, Protocol Officer to the Chairman of Qatar Tourism.
