Adel El-Masry: Preparing a memorandum on these problems to be submitted to the Minister of Tourism and the Egyptian Tourism Federation
By Akram Medhat
Problems of local authorities interfering in the activity of tourist establishments and unjustly harming their interests topped the meeting held yesterday, Sunday, in the city of Ras El Bar in Damietta by Adel El-Masry, Chairman of the Chamber of Tourist Establishments, and some board members with investors and managers of tourist establishments and restaurants in the central and northern Delta region and the Canal cities.
The meeting discussed investors' complaints about the interference of some local authority bodies in their activity, which was behind the issuance of illegal closure decisions by local authorities without legal basis.
Those present stressed that these wrong practices by some local authorities lead to the laying off of workers, as tourist establishments are unable to meet their obligations toward their workers, in addition to these establishments being unable to pay the state's dues for electricity, water, environmental fees, social insurance and labor contributions, as the activity generates no revenue as a result of these interventions.
For his part, Adel El-Masry, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Tourist Establishments, called for intervention in the interest of the chamber's members and general assembly, and for these complaints to be submitted to Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, to hold an urgent meeting with Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Shaarawy, Minister of Local Development, so that he issues instructions to stop these legal violations and for local authorities to abide by the articles of the laws stating that the Ministry of Tourism alone is responsible for monitoring and supervising tourism activity, and that it is the ministry that determines the powers of inspection committees and their members.
Meanwhile, investors and restaurant managers called for amending the fire code for tourist establishments so that it becomes a code specific to them, and not linking it to what is applied to hotel establishments, given the many differences between the nature of each, stressing that the current code leads to the suspension of the activity of many establishments because it is difficult to apply and unsuitable on the ground.
El-Masry stressed that the Minister of Tourism is working to remove all obstacles facing the tourism sector in general and to lift all the hardship it faces, through consultation and coordination with her government colleagues concerned and those directly and indirectly linked to the tourism sector, noting that the current period is witnessing great harmony, coordination and cooperation among government members through which these problems can be solved.
El-Masry explained that the chamber has prepared a memorandum including all the problems facing tourist establishments and the proposed solutions, to be presented to the Minister of Tourism upon her return from her trip to Jordan. The memorandum will also be presented to the board of the Egyptian Tourism Federation at its next meeting to strengthen the establishments' position in their legal demands, stressing that tourist establishments and restaurants are one of the important arms of the Egyptian tourism industry, attract labor and are committed to paying all their financial obligations to the state, unlike popular restaurants subject to local authorities, to which fees, taxes and other regulations and standards are not applied.
It is worth noting that the meeting was attended by Hesham Wahba, board member of the Chamber of Tourist Establishments; Ali Kamel Mansour, head of the chamber's branch in the central and northern Delta and Canal cities; and Ahmed El-Nazer, Secretary General of the main chamber in Cairo.
