The Institute of National Planning discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the tourism sector in the fourth episode of the expert meeting
Dr.. Ashraf Elaraby: The tourism sector is of great importance to the Egyptian economy due to its contribution to the gross domestic product, as well as its contribution to improving the balance of payments.
Under the title “Enhancing the Performance of the Tourism Sector: Opportunities and Challenges”, the Institute of National Planning held the fourth session of the expert meeting for the academic season 2022/2023 to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the tourism sector, and ways and mechanisms to enhance and develop the performance of the sector in Egypt, in the presence of a group of professors and specialized experts. From the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, the Environment, tourism companies, and the concerned authorities from the representatives of the Chambers of Tourism and Hotels and the Tourist Guides Syndicate, as well as the participation of media representatives to talk about the role of the media in supporting the tourism sector.
In this context, Prof. Ashraf El-Araby, President of the Institute of National Planning, said that the tourism sector is of great importance to the Egyptian economy, not only for its contribution to the gross domestic product, but also for its contribution to improving the conditions of the balance of payments, as it is the third largest source of foreign income for the country after exports and remittances of Egyptians working abroad. Creating direct and indirect job opportunities.
The participants in the meeting reviewed the extent of the damage to the tourism sector, as the tourism sector was the largest affected by successive crises, starting from Covid 19 and ending with the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, as Russia and Ukraine were major sources of tourism flow, and with the advent of 2022, the tourism and travel industry globally began to recover. The results are underpinned by strong pent-up demand, improved confidence levels and the lifting of restrictions in an increasing number of destinations.
While A.D. Fadia Abdel Salam, general coordinator of the meeting of experts, said that according to data from the Central Bank of Egypt, the tourism sector witnessed a remarkable recovery during the fiscal year 2021/2022, as tourism revenues amounted to $10.7 billion, while the number of tourists reached about 8 million, indicating that despite this, it remains Less than the level achieved in 2019, which amounted to 13.1 million tourists, while revenues exceeded 13 billion, and she also indicated that according to the 2021 Tourism and Travel Development Index, Egypt ranked 51st and fifth in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Abdel Salam added that a group of important issues related to the tourism sector were discussed, and an attempt was made to answer a group of questions, including “Does tourism planning receive appropriate attention?” Reaching this number requires more than 500,000 hotel rooms, or does the current number of rooms meet the needs?
In addition to the above, the current quality of the Egyptian tourism product was discussed to attract high-spending segments, and tourism patterns that could enhance demand from these segments, such as yacht tourism, business tourism, and medical tourism, in addition to discussing the extent to which this conflicts with the price competitive advantage of the Egyptian product. Especially since the price limits for hotel rooms in Egypt are lower than their counterparts in other countries.
The meeting concluded with a set of recommendations, including stressing that the revitalization and development of the tourism sector is a national goal that must receive presidential support, stressing the need for concerted efforts of all concerned parties and institutions, as well as activating the role of the Supreme Council for Tourism. In light of the difficulty of achieving the goal of 30 million tourists, the participants considered starting to focus on achieving the goal of $30 billion in revenues from the Egyptian tourism sector, while reviewing the overlapping specializations between the ministries and relevant bodies closely related to tourism activity and coordination between them, and avoiding imposing sudden fees on the activity. Tourism, in addition to focusing on tourism awareness and education, starting with the education sector, knowing what tourism is and its types, as well as working to find new tourism products (development of a tourist destination or a new tourist attraction and highlighting its features) to attract tourists to it, and then achieve a competitive advantage among the countries of the region. .