Egypt's Tourism Minister Rania Al-Mashat highlighted the country's Tourism Reform Programme (E-TRP) during her attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. "Just back from a very eventful and wonderful few days in Davos. This year as the WEF focused on the UN SDGs and sustainability, our Egypt-Tourism Reform Program was perfectly placed," Al-Mashat said in a statement on Saturday. The WEF, attended by an Egyptian delegation which included Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr, saw important talks on investment opportunities between the Egyptian officials and representatives from leading global companies, including Uber and Apple. Al-Mashat highlighted Egypt's newly launched E-TRP, which seeks to introduce structural reforms to create a better business environment for travel companies in Egypt. E-TRP was established late last year in an attempt to continue reviving a crucial tourism sector which was hit severely during the past years due to political and social unrest. The programme includes administrative restructuring, a managerial reshuffle, and the empowerment of junior staff, the introduction of incentive programmes to boost the competitiveness of local operators, enhancing international relations, talking to international tourism institutions, community development, and securing international grants to develop the sector. Al-Mashat said she had the opportunity to share the country's visit with international financial institutions, development partners and private sector. "I emphasised that for the first time, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are at the core of the tourism sector's structural reform programme in Egypt (E-TRP)," she said, adding that she focused on global trends, the fifth pillar of the programme. According to Al-Mashat ,10 percent of the country's hotel rooms are aligned with a green star certification, pointing also at an major Egyptian hotel move to shift to solar energy generation in order to allow more resources to be used for the servicing of tourists. "We are changing and the narrative on tourism and people are witnessing the changes first hand," she concluded. Source: Ahram Online
