The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced in a press statement recently that in 2022, 431 hotel and tourism facilities and new marine activity centres were opened and operated across Egypt, which created 4,532 new job opportunities. This comes within the framework of the strategic goals of the tourism ministry to increase hotel capacity and tourism activities across Egypt and encourage tourism investment. Mohamed Amer — Head of the Central Administration for Hotel Establishments, Shops, and Tourist Activities — explained that these establishments consist of 24 hotels, 165 restaurants, 12 new hotel management companies, 10 diving centres, 15 activity centres, 23 yacht safari centres, a mountain safari centre, and 181 bazaars. Notably, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa announced earlier that there are three axes or priorities that his ministry will work on during the coming period in order to be able to achieve the target of reaching 30 million tourists annually and revenues of $30bn by 2030. These three axes are increasing the number of airline seats to Egypt by three times, improving the tourism experience, and enhancing the tourism investment climate. Issa said that in order to reach the targeted 30 million tourists annually, the plan also requires increasing the hotel capacity from 211,000 rooms to 500,000 rooms with an annual increase ranging from 25 to 30%, compared to a 1% annual increase since 2018 until now. Moreover, the minister said that there is a deficit in three-star hotels and hotel apartments in the governorates of Luxor, Aswan, and Qena, explaining that the ministry is working to improve the investment climate in the tourism sector and raise the number of tourist rooms in Egypt. Issa also praised the infrastructure that the Egyptian state had built over the last period, stressing that the development that Egypt witnessed in the infrastructure will contribute greatly to the development of the tourism sector and increase investment in the Egyptian tourism sector.
