According to Khaled Sharif, the tourism and antiquities minister’s assistant for digital transformation, this service will be provided through mobile network operators in Egypt, who will send an automated text message to tourists as soon as they arrive in one of Egypt’s airports to welcome and inform them of the ministry’s multi-language hotline ‘19654’.

The hotline will operate for 12 hours a day to answer inquiries or listen to any suggestions or complaints any tourist might have, Sharif said, without specifying the 12-hour timeframe.

The service will also be able to redirect them to emergency services, such as the police or EMTs.

The ministry launched this service as part of a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology as well as the digitisation programme currently being implemented in Egypt.