For Tourism Fund.. New fees on hotels and restaurants in Egypt

Egypt decided to impose an additional fee for hotel accommodation at 1% of the price of an individual’s stay or a hotel night, in favor of the Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund.

The Minister of Tourism’s decision No. 79 of 2023 also included imposing an annual fee of 20 thousand pounds on nightclubs, and between 3 and 7 thousand pounds on tourism companies, according to the category of each company. It also included tourism buses, limousines and microbuses, with an annual fee of between 500 and 1000 pounds.

Additional fees

Egypt imposed additional fees in favor of the Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund, which are applied to hotel establishments, tourism companies, restaurants, and bazaars.

The Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund was established last year, through the merger of 3 funds: the Nubia Rescue Project Fund, the Antiquities and Museum Projects Fund, and the Tourism Fund.

The decision of the Minister of Tourism includes adding a fee of 1% of the price of an individual’s stay or a hotel night to hotels, not less than 5 pounds and not more than 50 pounds. And impose the same rate on safari yachts.

The decision referred to taking the opinion of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers, and in return, the establishments will receive mechanization services, digital transformation and training in return for the money they will contribute to the fund.

Tourism sector revenues

Egypt aims to increase tourism sector revenues from the current average of $11 billion annually, to $30 billion annually over the next three years, according to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly's statements last September.

Tourism promotion

Tourism contributes up to 15% of the country's economic output, and more than 13 million tourists visited Egypt in 2019, that is, before the spread of the Corona pandemic. While the number of arrivals nearly 5 million during the first half of last year, preliminary estimates indicate that about 10 million tourists will visit Egypt in 2022.

Egyptian tourism was affected in the first months of last year by the Russian-Ukrainian war, as the two conflicting countries represent a major source of tourist flows, before the sector recovered during the past few months.