$26 billion this year.. a tourism plan that will bring billions to Egypt

Dr. Mostafa Badra, an economist and professor of finance and investment, called on the government to put the Egyptian tourism file at the forefront of its priorities, given that this sector is of paramount importance in bridging the hard currency gap in a short period of time, as tourism is one of the fast economies that show revenues in the short term.

Tourism profile

He added that the tourism file comes in contrast to other sectors, such as industry, which require long procedures, even in the turnover of capital, and thus the revenue behind it in the medium and long term.

Badra explained that this does not mean that we will not move forward in the advancement of the Egyptian industry, but there must be priorities and plans that are being implemented as quickly as possible.

He pointed out that the closest sector that you can achieve from behind a hard currency as soon as possible is tourism, as it is among the fast economies that deal with crises in a very short period of time.

Tourism is one of the sources of hard currency, and its revenues will double in this case

Mostafa Badra said that tourism is a very important activity, as it is a major source of hard currency for Egypt, as its annual revenues range from 12 to 13 billion dollars.

He said, "We look forward to doubling this number to 26 billion dollars during the current year," stressing that in order to achieve this number, swift measures must be taken by the government.

It is noteworthy that there are several criticisms of tourism companies and travel agencies, as 95% of the total licensed companies, which are “2269 companies”, are behind the decline in Egyptian tourism, regardless of the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Although renewing the license for tourism companies requires fulfilling a specific number of the volume of incoming tourism business, it is far from achieving this, as evidenced by the lack of a development plan for internal or external tourism.

There are about 2,269 companies that are required to implement the state’s plan in the tourism sector and work to develop and revitalize tourism in Egypt, For this reason, the state established the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies by Presidential Decree No. 85 of 1968 in order to take care of their interests and take care of them for what they offer to Egyptian tourism.

  Unfortunately, the majority of these companies “do not work to develop Egyptian tourism.” They work without plans or studies, and are content with millions of Hajj and Umrah, and thus the result in the end is nothing to mention in the past period.