Captain Dr. Sameh El-Hefny, Minister of Civil Aviation, revealed that the passport card at airports for those arriving in or departing Egypt is scheduled to be abolished by the end of January, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, to ease procedures for travellers at Egyptian airports and improve the tourist experience.
The Minister of Civil Aviation stressed in a phone interview with the programme "Ala Mas'ouliyati" on Sada El-Balad channel yesterday evening, Sunday, that today's meeting chaired by Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, was to follow up on government efforts to ease procedures, facilitate tourists' entry and improve the tourism experience and image, attended by Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, and officials of all relevant bodies, according to the official Facebook page of Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation.
El-Hefny explained that this measure will be replaced by modern technologies, using passenger databases with modern devices that read passport data, linked to a system that sends all passenger information in advance to the relevant authorities, saving passengers time and making their experience easy from the moment of arrival, in addition to providing easy and varied transport to and from their hotel.
He pointed out that the standard times for passengers from the aircraft's arrival until collecting their bags are 15 to 20 minutes for the first bag to appear on the baggage belt and up to 50 minutes for the last bag on an arriving flight, noting that the time taken at Egyptian airports ranges between 35 and 40 minutes at most.
It is worth noting that Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, stressed during today's meeting his follow-up of all airport development procedures and efforts to speed up and simplify the various procedures at airports, as well as the tourism sector's extensive efforts to increase the number of hotel rooms, stressing in this regard that the most important factor is improving tourists' experience and their image of Egypt when they visit.
During the meeting, the ministers of communications, tourism and aviation reviewed the measures their ministries are taking and their joint coordination on easing tourists' entry procedures, as well as solving a number of problems and removing some obstacles.
Counsellor Mohamed El-Homsany, the official spokesman for the Cabinet, stated that the meeting reviewed the efforts of the various bodies concerned with easing procedures, facilitating tourists' entry and improving the tourism experience and image, with the aim of reducing congestion at airports and improving the work environment and efficiency at ports of entry, ensuring the rapid completion of arrival and departure procedures for tourists and raising the efficiency of tourism services while strengthening Egypt's global competitiveness.
He added that the meeting also reviewed the latest developments in the trial application of the integrated e-visa issuance system project, as well as the efforts and measures taken in the on-arrival visa file to make it easier for tourists to obtain, according to the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Cabinet.
