By Akram Medhat
Hossam El-Shaer, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Tourism Companies, met with Maj. Gen. Mohamed El-Ghoul, Assistant Minister of Interior and Director General of the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Police, in the presence of Maj. Gen. Nageh Zaki, Director of Tourism Companies Investigations, chamber board members Basel El-Sisi, Yousry El-Saoudi and Ehab Shoukry, and Osama Emara, the chamber's Secretary General.
During the meeting, the chamber's head presented the tourism companies' point of view regarding the notifications for the tour programs they organize for their clients, especially sudden, last-minute changes to any element of a program.
For his part, the Director of Tourism and Antiquities Police showed great understanding of this point, stressing that such cases are handled with full flexibility as long as the cause is beyond the company's control. The principles that facilitate the companies' work while maintaining the security of tourists were also clarified.
The Director of Tourism and Antiquities Police explained that any change in the elements of a tour group's program must be reported immediately, namely the number of tourists, the bus number, the driver's name and the representative's name, at any place where the Tourism and Antiquities Police is present, whether a tourism-licensed hotel or a tourism-licensed floating hotel.
As for the places to be visited (the itinerary) notified in advance, they can be modified, with the modification reported 24 hours before departure at the headquarters of the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Police in Fustat. Individual tourists are also allowed to travel from the hotel in a tourism-licensed car based on a notification from the tourism company to the Tourism and Antiquities Police officer at the hotel, who will notify the security authorities.
In a related context, the meeting addressed the problem of police reports being filed against tourism companies because their drivers do not carry the chamber's ID card. The chamber's head explained that the number of drivers registered with the ministry is lower than the actual number of drivers in the tourism sector, due to the many obstacles and procedures required to register them with the ministry. He stressed that in the coming days the chamber will work, in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism, to solve these problems by simplifying and facilitating procedures, as part of implementing the state's policy of digital transformation in all services.
