Minister Sherif Fathy Emphasizes Need for Expansion in Hotel Capacity

اجتماع وزير السياحة.

On Monday, Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, met with Karim Al-Assal and Engineer Mohamed Al-Assal, the CEOs and managing partners of Misr Italia Properties and co-founders of People & Places, along with their accompanying delegation. The meeting focused on exploring opportunities for expanding hotel investments across various Egyptian tourist destinations.

At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Fathy highlighted the Egyptian government’s significant commitment to the tourism sector, recognizing it as a vital pillar of the national economy. He emphasized its role in supporting economic growth rates and increasing foreign currency resources, as well as providing both direct and indirect employment opportunities due to its labor-intensive nature.

Fathy stressed the importance of expanding hotel capacity to accommodate the anticipated increase in tourist numbers. He reaffirmed the state’s dedication to encouraging tourism investments, particularly in the hotel sector, through a series of incentive initiatives aimed at enhancing Egypt’s competitiveness as an attractive global tourism destination.

During the meeting, company officials presented their investment strategy for expanding in the hotel sector in Egypt through a presentation that covered their current and future projects along with associated international partnerships. They noted that they are developing several resorts, hotels, and serviced apartments in various tourist destinations across Egypt.

The representatives also revealed plans to develop and launch 21 hotels by 2032, with a total capacity of 3,214 rooms. This initiative will be in collaboration with global brands, including some already operating in the Egyptian market and others entering for the first time. This expansion is expected to create approximately 6,000 job opportunities.

The discussion also addressed diversifying specialized tourism patterns, particularly branded serviced apartments to meet diverse tourist demands.

Additionally, several proposals and ideas were discussed to support increased hotel capacity and attract more investments into this sector.

In this context, Minister Fathy pointed out the ministry’s efforts to diversify accommodation styles by introducing “vacation apartments,” along with establishing regulations that ensure adherence to quality standards and occupational health and safety.

Company officials expressed their eagerness to enhance cooperation with the ministry and streamline procedures while coordinating with relevant authorities to support timely project execution.

In conclusion, Minister Fathy assured that the ministry is prepared to provide necessary facilitation measures to boost tourism investments and achieve developmental targets within the sector.

Present at the meeting were Mohamed Amer, Head of the Central Administration for Hotel Establishments and Tourism Activities at the ministry, and Dr. Sherif Abdel Jawad, Secretary-General of the Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund.