Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, today began her business meetings during her participation in World Travel Market (WTM) London 2019 with officials of ABTA, the association of British travel agents and tour operators: Nikki White, the association's Director of Destinations and Sustainability, and Angie Hills, who is responsible for destinations, health and safety and crisis management, in the presence of Ahmed El-Wassif, chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, and Magued Fawzy, head of the Chamber of Hotel Establishments.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat stressed that the British government's decision to lift restrictions on flights to Sharm El-Sheikh confirms the safety and security Egypt enjoys, and will also have a positive impact in increasing tourist traffic from the British market. She pointed to the praise from many international institutions for what Egyptian tourism has achieved, especially the security situation, most notably the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019.
Al-Mashat referred to the recent visit by the Egyptian Tourism Federation and the Chamber of Hotels to London and their fruitful meeting with the British travel association, during which they reviewed what has been done in cooperation with "Preverisk", an accredited international health and safety consultancy, to carry out a comprehensive inspection of hotels in Hurghada as a first phase, which is being applied in the other tourist governorates, including Sharm El-Sheikh, to raise the quality of hotel establishments in line with the international standards applied in major tourist countries.
The minister also spoke about the ministry's announcement last September of the new system of standards for classifying Egyptian hotels, in cooperation with the UNWTO, and the changes it included, as well as the addition of new types of tourist accommodation that suit current demand and attract more tourists, such as dahabiyas, eco-lodges, camps, serviced apartments and boutique hotels.
For their part, the British travel association officials praised the noticeable improvement in tourist traffic to the Egyptian destination, stressing their optimism about a large-scale return of British tourism to Sharm El-Sheikh following the decision to lift the travel ban on the city.
They stressed that there is growing demand from the British people to travel to the Egyptian destination, which is one of their most favored tourist destinations, noting that the coming tourist season will see a further influx.
