Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, has issued a ministerial decree on the conditions and rules for licensing a new additional type of holiday home units (Holiday Home), which are one of the newly introduced types of hotel accommodation.
Under this decree, the new type refers to any hotel units located in independent buildings of their own, numbering no fewer than 8 residential units (whether apartments or studios), offering some basic services, and prepared to receive Egyptians or foreigners.
The decree aims to add a new type to the licensing system for holiday home units, in light of Law No. 8 of 2022 on hotel and tourism establishments and its executive regulations, and Law No. 27 of 2023 on the establishment of tourism chambers and the organization of their federation. It also complements the ministerial decree issued in March 2025, which set out the conditions and rules for licensing units consisting of at least one room, a suite or a villa located in an independent building or part of a building.
For his part, Sherif Fathy said the decree is part of the ministry's efforts to increase hotel capacity and diversify types of tourist accommodation in Egypt, particularly by regularizing the status of some accommodation units currently in operation after verifying the quality of the tourism services they provide, thereby enhancing the Egyptian destination's capacity to absorb the targeted increase in tourist numbers in the coming years and encouraging new investment in tourist accommodation.
The minister stressed that the rules and requirements being set are primarily intended to ensure the required level of quality, security, safety and amenities in accommodation units, to make sure they are ready to receive tourists, explaining that the ministry is currently working on setting rules to regularize the status of some other types of accommodation, in preparation for including them in the holiday home licensing system in the coming period.
In a related context, Mohamed Amer, head of the Central Administration for Hotel Establishments, Shops and Tourism Activities at the ministry, explained that under this decree, granting a license for this new type requires that the entire building contain only holiday home units of the type specified in the decree, and the licensee may not change the purpose of use of these units in the entire building throughout the license period. He added that holiday homes of this type must also be located in an area suitable from a tourism standpoint or within a suitable residential compound.
He added that the owner or operator of the building must notify the ministry electronically using the designated form published on the ministry's official website, and must complete all procedures required to obtain the relevant operating licenses in accordance with the relevant guide, in addition to meeting the specifications, conditions and rules attached to this decree, and submitting the documents requested by the competent department at the ministry.
