Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, received Nafi Güral, founder of Turkey's NG Hotels Group, and Erkan Güral, chairman of the group's board, and their accompanying delegation, during their current visit to Egypt, to discuss hotel investment opportunities in Egypt's coastal tourist destinations.
At the start of the meeting, the minister stressed the Egyptian state's keenness to support and encourage tourism and hotel investments, in light of Egypt's distinctive tourism assets and promising investment opportunities. He also reviewed the ministry's strategy to expand hotel capacity by increasing the number of hotel rooms to keep pace with the expected growth in international tourist traffic to Egypt, especially in light of the positive performance the sector has seen in tourist numbers during the first half of this year.
He noted that the Egyptian tourist destination saw a notable increase of 56.5% in the number of Turkish tourists from January to July this year compared with the same period last year, adding that the ministry is working to boost and attract more inbound tourist traffic from the Turkish market to the Egyptian destination.
Fathy also reviewed the number of hotel rooms in Egypt, particularly in Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada and the North Coast, where the group expressed interest in investing, and highlighted Marsa Alam and its tourism assets and promising investment opportunities.
For his part, Erkan Güral reviewed the group's business volume since its founding in 2008, the number of hotels it has opened in many tourist destinations in Turkey, and its future expansion plans, expressing the group's aspiration to invest in Egypt, especially in the hotel sector, and affirming the group's readiness to cooperate with Egyptian investors in this regard.
The meeting was attended by Mohamed Fahmy, Assistant Minister for Economic Affairs; Mohamed Amer, Head of the Central Administration for Hotel Establishments, Shops and Tourism Activities; and Ahmed Nabil, Aide to the Minister for Aviation and Follow-up.
