Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Rania El-Mashat has presented during the opening session of the UN World Tourism Organisation 45th round of meetings of the Middle East Regional Committee, held in Cairo under the auspices of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, an outline of her ministry’s plan to restructure and enhance the tourism sector.

El-Mashat stressed the importance of keeping pace with trends in the tourism industry, which is a cornerstone of the structural reform programme launched by the tourism ministry for the development of the sector, adding that empowering of women and encouraging innovation is one of the main objectives of the ministry’s plan, along with the participation of the country’s youth.

El-Mashat highlighted the ministry’s vision to achieve sustainable tourism development in line with the sustainable development goals of the UN. “The Ministry aims that at least one member of each Egyptian family work in the tourism sector, directly or directly," El-Mashat said.

El-Mashat underlined the necessity of adopting green and eco-tourism concepts, as well as implementing clean energy technologies.

Earlier this month, El-Mashat affirmed, before taking part in the ITB travel trade show in Berlin, that Egypt will be adopting new tourism promotion methods.

Tourist cities in Egypt were set to be introduced on screens set up at the Egyptian pavilion ,El- Mashat said in statements before leaving to attend the exhibition held from 6 to 10 March.

Tickets to the ITB bear a logo of the inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in 2020, which is part of her ministry's campaign to promote the opening.

Vast billboards were set up on Berlin streets promoting the GEM inauguration next year.

Recent research by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said that travel and tourism in Egypt grew by 16.5 percent in 2018, much faster than the global average of 3.9 percent.

According to the WTTC, the country’s efforts in improving security infrastructure have paid off, leading to an increase in visits by 16.5 percent in 2018, the best rise since 2010. 

The WTTC’s 2018 research, which compared travel and tourism sectors in 185 countries, also showed that travel and tourism are responsible for 9.5 percent of all Egypt’s employment, providing 2.5 million jobs.

The travel and tourism sector also contributed 11.9 percent to Egypt’s GDP in 2018 and is expected to grow a further 5.4 percent in 2019.