CAIRO - A presidential hopeful said on Monday that tourism could become the main driving force for economic growth in Egypt in the future, but only if this sector's workers manage to tap the huge tourism potential of this country. Ahmed Shafiq, a former Air Force commander and a minister of civil aviation under former president Hosni Mubarak for about a decade, added that Egypt has so far failed to get what it deserves as a tourist destination. "Other countries with fewer attractions have managed to convince more tourists to visit them," Shafiq said in a seminar organised by the Egyptian Travel Agents' Association in Cairo. "This raises questions about why Egypt should lag behind these countries, although it has everything it takes to be the world's top tourist destination," he added. Listening to Shafiq in this seminar were hundreds of tourism workers, specialists and investors, curious to test the pulse of the presidential hopeful on tourism, one of Egypt's prime sources of foreign currency. Regrettably, this sector has been hit hard by the political and security turmoil in the nation in the wake of the revolution. Before Egyptians took to the streets to demand the ousting of their long-time ruler early last year, the number of tourists expected to visit Egypt annually was estimated at 18 million. Since the revolution, however, few tourists have been visiting the country, putting hundreds of thousands of tourism workers and thousands of tourist establishments in dire straits. Elhamy el-Zayat, the Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, underlined the need for legislative changes to help Egypt boost its tourism sector. Hossam el-Shaer, the chairman of the Egyptian Travel Agents' Association, said that he wants the Higher Tourism Council, that used to monitor the work of tourist establishments and draw up general tourism strategies, to return. Shafiq, however, stressed the importance of changing the culture of the general public. He said tourists will only start to come here in their tens of millions when the behaviour of the people on the streets changes for the better. “Everything, from the traffic to the way the streets are paved and Egyptians paint their homes, must contribute to making Egypt a top tourist attraction. "We need to realise that tourism can totally transform this country. It is the only thing that can change life for the better. But this will only happen if we come up with the right policies and insist on implementing them," he added. Some of the experts present at the seminar described Shafiq as a perfectionist. They recalled his record as an aviation minister and said the man was able, in the matter of a few years, to make huge improvements to the nation's airports. "But is running a country like running a few airports?" one of them wondered. Amr Emam contributed to this report
