By Akram Medhat
Emad Hassan, Advisor to the Minister of Tourism for Sustainable Development, said negotiations are under way with 6 hotels in a number of tourist cities to switch to using solar energy to generate the electricity needed for their operation instead of conventional sources, as part of the Ministry of Tourism's sustainable development strategy, especially in light of the global trend toward green energy sources.
Hassan said in statements to Travel Yalla News that the six hotels are two hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, 3 hotels in Hurghada and one hotel in Aswan, as part of the Ministry of Tourism's target of converting 8 hotels to solar energy through communication with the Chamber of Hotel Establishments, in coordination with the Industrial Modernization Center of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and in cooperation with the Global Environment Facility of the United Nations Development Programme, one of the donors financing solar energy projects, which covers 25 to 30% of the cost of the first 150 kilowatts per hour.
The Minister of Tourism's Advisor for Sustainable Development noted that a new contract has been signed with a hotel in Hurghada on the Red Sea, pointing to the announcement of the "JW Marriott" in Cairo as the first hotel to switch to operating on solar energy at the beginning of this year, and stressing that the tourism system in Egypt aims to reduce negative impact on the environment and play a positive role in social aspects.
He explained that changing conventional energy prices are the biggest incentive for investors to look for other energy sources at a fixed cost, and hotels are therefore turning to solar energy, which saves on consumption costs in the medium and long term.
In a related context, Hassan said a meeting of the ministry's Green Tourism Committee was held and the head of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council was invited, with the aim of discussing ways to expand the green tourism project and reach out to and develop communities to raise their awareness of the importance of tourism and working in it.
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