Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy today met Karim El Assal and Eng. Mohamed El Assal, CEOs and Managing Directors of Misr Italia Properties and co-founders of People & Places, and their accompanying delegation, to discuss opportunities to expand hotel investment across Egypt's tourist destinations.
Fathy stressed the importance of expanding hotel capacity to strengthen the ability of Egypt as a destination to accommodate the targeted increase in tourist numbers, adding that the state is keen to encourage tourism investment, especially in the hotel sector, through a package of incentive initiatives aimed at strengthening Egypt's competitiveness as a global tourist destination attractive to investment.
During the meeting, company officials reviewed their investment strategy for expanding in Egypt's hotel sector, covering their current and future projects and the international partnerships linked to them, explaining that the company is developing a number of resorts, hotels and serviced apartments in several tourist destinations in Egypt.
They revealed that the company aims to develop and open 21 hotels by 2032, with a capacity of up to 3,214 rooms, in cooperation with international brands, including brands already operating in the Egyptian market and others entering it for the first time, helping to create around 6,000 jobs.
The meeting also touched on expanding specialized types of tourism accommodation, led by branded serviced apartments, to meet diverse tourism demand. A number of proposals and visions to support increasing hotel capacity and attracting more investment to the sector were also discussed.
In this context, the minister pointed to the ministry's efforts to diversify types of tourist accommodation, noting the introduction of "holiday apartments" and the approval of the rules governing them, ensuring compliance with quality, safety and occupational health standards.
For their part, company officials expressed their aspiration to strengthen cooperation with the ministry and to facilitate procedures and coordination with the relevant authorities, supporting the implementation of their projects according to the set timetables.
At the end of the meeting, the minister affirmed the ministry's readiness to provide the necessary facilities in this regard to drive tourism investment and achieve the sector's development targets.
