EJB's Tourism Committee Reveals Its Vision to Revive Sector

President of the Tourism and Aviation Committee of the Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB) and CEO of Egyliere Travel Mohamed Kaoud said the UNWTO launched a global ‘Restart Tourism’ campaign as tourism takes steps to reopen globally.

The UNWTO Global Guidelines to Restart Tourism and Priorities for Tourism Recovery are:

1. Provide liquidity and protect jobs

2. Recover confidence through safety and security

3. Public-private collaboration for an efficient reopening

4. Open borders with responsibility

5. Harmonize and coordinate protocols and procedures

6. Added value jobs through new technologies

7. Innovation and Sustainability as the new normal

Kaoud pointed out that global strategies and actions were drawn up to cope with the COVID-19 crisis of which the Egyptian government has endorsed some of them to help the industry.

Fiscal Policy: Suspension of payments of taxes or social contributions, tax reductions, health insurance, and pension contributions. Egypt has postponed taxes for three months, followed by another three months.

Monetary Policy: Curb income losses and retain liquidity issues, credit guarantees to banks, rescheduling of bank credits. The Central Bank of Egypt granted the tourism industry EGP 50 Billion-loans at reduced rates and eased terms.

Employment and Skills: Temporary wage compensation, income support schemes, digitalization, and online/distance work are widely supported. The Egyptian Travel Agents Association has contributed to wage compensation to all tourism employees.

Market Intelligence: Timely and robust data to support strategic planning, precise monitoring of the socio-economic impact, and innovative smart tools and solutions.

Public-Private Partnerships: Enhancing cooperation between the governments and relevant stakeholders, and inter-governmental committees.

"Egypt realizes the major role played by the tourism sector in economic persification, growth, and job generation. The government should define its national tourism visions and plans, successful governance plans," Kaoud noted.

He mentioned that the government should address locating which categories of tourists they want to attract and defined by their source markets and socio-demographic profiles, preparing the destination itself, which means improving the appeal of tourism products and experiences, and ascertaining that the destination is ready to welcome tourists, as well as connecting the tourists to the country and the vision should be translated into bookings and repeat visitors.

The president of EJB's tourism committee stated: "The hospitality industry has recently obliged the government to start issuing tourist visas as this move is expected to boost up the sector that was struggling massively by the Covid-19 pandemic."

"For the sustainability of the tourism industry, we should constantly evaluate and assess the pressures received by enterprises of the tourism industry (hotels - airlines - tour operators, etc.), evaluate proposals to keep the tourism sector operational during the crisis period (information, mobility, financing)."

Kaoud further stressed the importance of collecting and proposing “destination level” measures are important, as well as setting criteria to determine the restart of travel, tourism, and leisure activities and events (epidemiological situation, health system capacity, monitoring capacity, the introduction of specific safety rules).

Moreover, determining policies and practices for the period of transition from the restart to full operation is essential, the EJB official added.

UNWTO Recommendations for the governments are:

1- Protocols of Safety and Hygiene for accommodation, leisure facilities, and tourism enterprises (tour operators, guides, hotels, etc.)

2- Continue to support employment and invest in digital skills for attracting visitors later.

3- Review taxes

4- Examine deferrals for the smallest businesses in difficulty

5- Review airport fares, loans policy, and working capitals for businesses

6- Review marketing policies, co-advertising, and granting of air positions with tour operators

7- Differentiate the sources market portfolio and invest in new market segments.