Egypt participated in the Ministerial Meeting of the “Future of Global Tourism” summit, held in Barcelona, ​​Spain, on October 26-27.

On behalf of Khaled El-Anany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ghada Shalaby, Deputy Minister of Tourism Affairs, took part in the event, which was organized to review the policies and strategies of different countries in promotion of tourism and the measures taken to deal with the impact of the pandemic on the global tourism industry.

About 20 tourism ministers from different countries of the world and representatives of many international organizations and institutions attended the summit. It saw the participation of more than 80 speakers from 70 countries. The summit touched on several topics, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, sustainability, cultural identities and travel facilitation.

In her speech, the Deputy Minister highlighted the Egyptian experience in resuming tourism activities, while ensuring the safety of workers in the tourism sector, citizens and tourists.

She also highlighted the most important measures taken by the ministry in this regard, including the application of precautionary measures and sanitary controls firmly in all tourist facilities, including hotels, archaeological sites and museums.

She said Egypt has also completed the vaccination of workers in the tourism sector and that entry conditions have been set, namely that tourists receive the coronavirus vaccine or submit a negative PCR result.

She also highlighted the ministry’s efforts in digital transformation, in particular by facilitating the procedures for obtaining an entry visa to Egypt.

Recently, citizens of 28 additional countries were allowed to obtain visas electronically through the dedicated website, bringing the total number of countries whose citizens can electronically obtain a tourist visa for Egypt to 74 countries. .

She added that the ministry was seeking to link cultural tourism and seaside tourism, through the development of national airlines connecting Luxor, Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, Aswan and Abu Simbel. She noted that from October 27, a new airline will connect Sharm el-Sheikh and Luxor at an affordable price.

She also spoke about the characteristics of the media strategy for promoting tourism in Egypt, which aims to highlight the unique tourism components of the Egyptian destination and to attract different segments of tourists.

At the end of her speech, the Deputy Minister underlined that the future of tourism rests on sustainable tourism by offering various employment opportunities in activities complementary to tourism activity such as schools, universities and hospitals. . “There is a need to continue supporting digital transformation to keep up with global technological development as well as investment infrastructure to support various tourism activities,” she concluded.