Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy received the award for Egypt's win as Best Heritage Destination in the Outstanding Destinations category, during the ceremony held to present the World Tourism Awards as part of the annual meeting of the World Tourism Forum currently being held in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Egypt was chosen for the award in recognition of its efforts to preserve its historical and cultural heritage and to promote it and share it with travelers.
The World Tourism Awards, presented by the World Tourism Forum, are granted to honor leading destinations, companies, innovations and individuals who contribute to redefining travel through sustainability, creativity and impact, and the awards ceremony highlights the top 100 players shaping the future of tourism worldwide.
In his speech on the occasion, Sherif Fathy expressed his thanks and appreciation to the World Tourism Forum for the award, reviewing the growth Egypt has achieved in inbound tourist numbers since the beginning of this year, which reached 21% compared with the same period last year.
He also spoke about the success of the state's efforts in removing the Abu Mena archaeological site in Alexandria from the List of World Heritage in Danger last July, as well as the ministry's implementation of numerous archaeological projects to preserve and maintain Egyptian antiquities.
Fathy also addressed the foreign archaeological missions working in Egypt, explaining that there are nearly 300 foreign archaeological missions, in addition to Egyptian archaeological missions working across the country and making many important archaeological discoveries.
The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan, former President and Special Envoy of the President of the Maldives; a number of African ministers; Shaikha Al Nowais, Secretary-General-elect of UN Tourism; tourism officials from a number of European and Asian countries; officials responsible for tourism and heritage files at the European Commission; as well as a number of heads of tourism companies and of international organizations working in the environment, infrastructure development and sustainability in tourism, and representatives of a number of hotels, airlines and global airport management companies.
