Tourism Ministry Launches New Hospitality Criteria

The Tourism Ministry launched on Monday New Hospitality Criteria for the Egyptian hotels in coordination with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Egyptian Hotel Association.

The hotel classification criteria haven't been updated since 2006.

In this regard, Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat said, during a conference, that updating the hospitality criteria in line with the international standards is a major cornerstone in boosting the tourism's sector competitiveness.

https://twitter.com/RaniaAlMashat/status/1171024358183264256

"In light of achieving sustainable tourism, new types of hotels have been included in the New Hospitality Criteria, in light of the increasing international demand on them, namely eco-friendly lodges, Dahabeya, apartment hotels, and environmental safari camps," Al-Mashat noted.

Also, the old criteria for the hotels, resorts, heritage hotels, and floating hotels had been updated, considering the environmental dimension and using clean energy.

The new criteria take into account the quality of services, environmental, health, and hygiene standards.

[caption id="attachment_77460" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat[/caption]

"The new classification comes as a result of continuous efforts for months among the ministry, the UNWTO, and the private sector, represented in the Egyptian Hotel Association," the minister pointed out.

She thanked UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili for his cooperation with ministry to strengthen the Egyptian tourism sector.

In this context, Al-Mashat pointed to UNWTO's role in conducting an intensive training program for the hotel inspectors of the ministry. Those trained will be in charge of assessing, evaluating, and inspecting hotels according to the new criteria.

About 23 hotels inspectors had been trained to use tablets, designed for inspecting of hotels based on the new criteria, to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted with full transparency.

[caption id="attachment_77461" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Rania Al-Mashat with Tourism Officials and Governors[/caption]

During the event, Chairman of the Egyptian Hotels Association Maged Fawzy stressed the importance of the government's support to the tourism sector, thanking the state's remarkable efforts to restore the tourism strong again.

Fawzy considered that the New Hospitality Criteria is a great achievement for the Egyptian hotel sector, hailing the ongoing cooperation between the ministry and association.

[caption id="attachment_77464" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Chairman of The Egyptian Hotel Association[/caption]

"In light of the low hotel occupancy rate in Egypt over the past years, most of the hotel owners have no financial capabilities to do the required repairs of updating the technical systems. Therefore, a grace period is given for all hotels to improve their status in line with the new criteria," he added.

During his speech, Fawzy announced the start of work by the long-awaited civil defense code of the hotels, saying the Egyptian code includes, for the first time, the implementation requirements of protecting hotels from fires, especially the floating hotels.