Today, the Ministry of Tourism launched a new hospitality criteria for the Egyptian hotels in coordination with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Egyptian Hotel Association.

This criteria hasn’t been updated since 2006 and thus considered as a major step in boosting the tourism sector’s competitiveness and according to Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, the hospitality criteria goes align with the international standards.

Today, the Ministry of Tourism launched the New Hospitality Criteria in collaboration with the @UNWTO & the Egyptian Hotel Association, the first time since 2006. This is a major step in strengthening the sector’s competitiveness in line with international standards. #Egypt pic.twitter.com/DjolzAE7R6

— Rania A. Al Mashat (@RaniaAlMashat) September 9, 2019

“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.

Moreover, the old criteria for the hotels, resorts, heritage hotels, and floating hotels had also been updated in regards to the environmental dimension and the use of clean energy.

“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.

During the conference held today, Al-Mashat thanked UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili for his cooperation and efforts with the ministry in order to develop the tourism sector in Egypt.

In this context, Al-Mashat pointed out to the role of UNWTO in providing an intensive training program for the hotel inspectors, as they will be the ones responsible of assessing, evaluating, and inspecting hotels according to the new criteria.

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𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 @𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗧𝗢. Today, the Ministry of Tourism launched the New Hospitality Criteria in collaboration with the @UNWTO and the Egyptian Hotel Association, the first time since 2006. This is a major step in strengthening the tourism sector’s competitiveness in line with international standards, and the completion of a major cornerstone of the Egypt — Tourism Reform Program (E—TRP). Travelers today are ever – evolving and it is the micro-moments within their journey that define the experience of their trips. With the new classification, we are able to meet the demands of our visitors through ensuring the quality of services provided including environmental, health and hygiene standards are being effectively implemented. Inspectors have been trained on specialized tablets by @UNWTO on the new classifications to ensure transparency. We believe that this long awaited accomplishment is a much needed and positive step forward in our vision for #Egypt’s tourism sector. اليوم أطلقت وزارة السياحة معايير تصنيف الفنادق الجديدة بالتعاون مع منظمة السياحة العالمية وغرفة المنشآت الفندقية، والتي لم تُحَدَّث منذ عام ٢٠٠٦، وهو ما يعد خطوة هامة لرفع تنافسية قطاع السياحة بما يتواكب مع المعايير الدولية، وبذلك نكون قد أنهينا ركنا أساسياً من برنامج الإصلاح الهيكلي لتطوير قطاع السياحة. ان المسافر اليوم اصبح يبحث عن التجارب التي تثري رحلته ، ويستطيع ان يستمتع بها. ويُعتبر تميز الفندق وجودة الخدمة المقدمة به عاملا أساسيا في استمتاع السائح بزيارته وتشجيعه على تكرارها، ولقد حرصنا على ان تتضمن المعايير الجديدة معاييرا بيئية وصحية. لقد نظمت منظمة السياحة العالمية دورات تدريبية لمفتشى قطاع الرقابة على المنشآت الفندقية على استخدام Tablet، تم تصنيعه خصيصا لاستخدامه في عملية التفتيش على الفنادق، بما يضمن ان تتم عملية التقييم بكل نزاهة وشفافية. نحن نؤمن أن هذا الإنجاز، الذي طال انتظاره، كان ضرورة ملحة وخطوة إيجابية في طريق تحقيق رؤيتنا لقطاع السياحة في مصر.

A post shared by Rania A. Al-Mashat (@raniaalmashat) on Sep 9, 2019 at 4:28am PDT