Tens of hotels and diving centres have gone green in Egypt: Tourism ministry

Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 6 Sep 2023

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Wednesday that 251 hotels, 39 diving centres, and nine liveaboards in tourist destinations in various parts of the country have received the international sustainable practice certificate Green Fins.

A file photo of an Egyptian hotel. Photo : Al-Ahram

This came under the tourism ministry’s recent campaign to transform the tourism sector in the country into an environmentally friendly and sustainable economic sector, according to Mohamed Amer, the head of the Department of Hotel Establishments, Shops, and Tourist Activities at the ministry.

Amr explained that the turned-green hotels include 123 in South Sinai, 91 in the Red Sea, two in Sokhna, 20 in Cairo and Giza, eight in Luxor and Aswan, and seven in Alexandria and Matrouh governorates.

All the liveaboards and diving centres that received Green Fins certificates operate in South Sinai and the Red Sea governorates, he added.

The ministry’s campaign to turn tourist destinations in the country green was first launched in Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai last year as the popular Red Sea resort hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November of 2022.

The tourism ministry mandated that all hotels and restaurants with tourist licenses in Sharm El-Sheikh obtain an international sustainable practice certificate as part of the country’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030.