The Minister of Tourism directs the federation to form a working group for the Africa Cup of Nations
By Akram Medhat
Today, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, held her first meeting with the members of the board of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, elected for the first time in 3 years, to review the role entrusted to them in the coming period to achieve the vision of advancing the sector and to strengthen cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
The meeting was attended by Ahmed El-Wassif, head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, and a number of the federation's members: Nasser Turky, Heba Bakry, Magued Fawzy, head of the Chamber of Hotel Establishments, Adel El-Masry, head of the Chamber of Tourist Establishments, Hesham Gabr, head of the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports, Ashraf Abdel Aal, Mohamed Nader, Hesham Ali, Mohamed Mahmoud Abdullah and Waheed Assem.
Al-Mashat stressed the importance of working institutionally in the coming period and of cooperation and coordination among the members of the federation and the chambers, noting that short-, medium- and long-term action plans can be set in cooperation with the federation to follow up on what has been achieved in each pillar of the structural reform program.
For his part, Ahmed El-Wassif, head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, welcomed working and cooperating with the Ministry of Tourism in the coming period, given the existence of a clear and unified vision and goals, noting that there will be rapid action plans at all levels and a list of priorities will be set, including the training file and developing the federation's centers, such as the Safe Driving Center and the Chefs Training Center.
The meeting touched on the training file and what has been achieved in the past period to raise the efficiency of the human element in the tourism sector, and discussed the system for updating Egyptian hotel classification standards currently being worked on in cooperation with experts from the World Tourism Organization.
The meeting discussed Egypt's winning bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations next June and the importance of the sector's readiness for hosting it in a fitting manner and benefiting from it being held in Egypt in terms of tourism. In this regard, the Minister of Tourism directed the federation to form a working group dedicated to this file to put forward a vision and proposals for making use of the event.
On the other hand, Nasser Turky, a member of the federation's board, noted the importance of working in the coming period to stimulate tourism from Arab countries, given the importance of this market for Egypt.
Magued Fawzy, head of the Chamber of Hotel Establishments, explained that there is cooperation between the chamber and the ministry on several files, including updating the hotel classification standards system to keep pace with international standards, the first phase of which will be completed in the next few months, praising the successful passing of the winter closure period on the Nile for the first time without any problems.
Hesham Gabr, head of the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports, spoke about the importance of including green tourism and environmental preservation standards in the system for updating Egyptian hotel classification standards, praising the ministry's adoption of a vision to apply sustainable development concepts and its attention to the environmental dimension in the sector's structural reform program.
