By Akram Medhat
The Egyptian Tourism Federation is preparing to launch an electronic system project across the various sectors, including hotels, tourism companies and restaurants. It includes creating a code of safety standards for floating hotels, registering all workers in the various activities and linking them to the security system, as well as the digital transformation of correspondence and notifications with the Tourism and Antiquities Police, to facilitate procedures and save time.
In this context, Hesham El-Shaer, a board member of the Chamber of Hotels and head of its Government Communication Committee, revealed that a code has been created for floating hotels to be built, as well as an annex for existing floating hotels, including the technical standards for achieving safety and security. It is set to take effect 6 months after it is approved and announced, giving existing hotels an opportunity to rectify their status.
El-Shaer told Travel Yalla News that this measure is being taken for the first time, as there are more than 230 floating hotels between Luxor and Aswan whose compliance with these standards will be reviewed once they take effect, noting that the number of floating hotels actually operating tourist cruises currently stands at 130. He added that the standards of the new code were set in cooperation with the General Administration of Civil Protection and the Housing and Building National Research Center.
El-Shaer added that the new code also includes an annex for existing fixed hotels, noting that some hotel cases were presented to the Housing and Building Research Center to find solutions, and their problems have indeed been solved.
On another note, the board member of the Chamber of Hotel Establishments stated that a huge project currently under way will move the sector to work according to a digital electronic system. It is supervised by Maj. Gen. Abdel Rahim Hassan, Advisor to the Egyptian Tourism Federation, and includes creating a database of workers in the tourism sector in its various fields. The first phase is set to begin by registering all workers in hotels and tourist restaurants and issuing ID cards for them, thereby linking them to the security system.
El-Shaer told Travel Yalla News that the project also includes converting all security procedures, correspondence and notifications into a digital mechanism to eliminate paperwork, making communication easier and procedures simpler and faster. This will be done by creating an electronic system that, in its first phase, links the Chamber of Tourism Companies and the Chamber of Hotel Establishments with the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Police. Most importantly, the system sets out the procedures and mechanisms that must be followed to obtain permits for tourist trips.
He explained that the system is planned to launch initially in the Red Sea, South Sinai and Cairo governorates, while work is under way to train workers in Luxor, Aswan and the other governorates.
He noted that within 3 months, everyone handling notifications and correspondence in the various tourism sectors, including tourism companies and hotels, will be trained, so that the system can be activated immediately afterward.
El-Shaer praised the role of the previous caretaker committee of the Chamber of Hotels in maintaining the continued development of the work system, including the digital transformation project, which is to be fully implemented gradually over the current year.
