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TDA to offer 100,000sqm for investment in Luxor Tourism Ministry launch flight lines from Western European capitals; investors hope hotel occupancies will reach 30% by end of January
The Tourism Development Authority (TDA) is studying offering 100,000sqm in the El-Tod plateau in eastern Luxor for tourism investors. The offer is among a number of investment opportunities that are expected to be offered by the government during the Upper Egypt Investment Conference scheduled for 2016, according to a TDA official. The official told Daily News Egypt that the area expected to be launched marks the initial phase from the total lands owned by the TDA, recording 5m sqm. "The region is promising for investment, targeting to increase investment capacity in the South Valley area, which is part of the land portfolio introduced by the cabinet to TDA," the official said. In 2013, the governorate of Luxor called on the military forces to re-evaluate the heights of the El-Tod plateau region, located near Luxor International Airport, to offer the region for tourism investment in cooperation with TDA. TDA is coordinating with the Luxor governorate to propose lands for investment in compliance with the policy to develop local communities neighbouring tourism areas, according to the official. The area of El-Tod plateau is approximately 5m sqm, according to the official. He said the region can attract investments of EGP 2bn, which would increase the region's hotel capacity to 15,000 rooms. Over the past five years, hotels in Luxor and Aswan suffered from the decline of tourism since the 25 January Revolution in 2011. The official said the total area will not be allocated at once in light of difficult circumstances in Egyptian tourism. "We will begin by putting up 100,000sqm to observe the market and the investors' turnout to pump new capitals," he said. The hotel capacity in Luxor and Aswan is 5,000 rooms in regular hotels and 17,000 rooms in floating hotels. The average occupancy rate in the region's hotels does not exceed 20%, Chairman of the Chamber of Tourism Companies and Agencies in Upper Egypt Tharwat El-Agamy said. "The Ministry of Tourism launched flights from a number of Western European capitals and we hope that occupancy rates reach 30% by the end of January," El-Agamy said. Over the past five years, more than 250 floating hotels stopped operations, according to Deputy Chairman of the Floating Hotels Investors Association Abdelrahman Anwar. He expressed hopes for tourism rates to improve starting in February with the launch of the new direct flights from Western Europe to Luxor.
