Government adopts measures to enhance tourism sector
Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid said in a recent Cabinet meeting that the government decided to adopt several measures including offering LE 400 million to tourist and airline companies to overcome the negative impacts of the current developments on the international arena.
The Cabinet's measures also includes the following :
Cancelling the differentiation of services' prices between Egyptians and foreigners.
Postponing the application of raising fees on visits to archaeological sites, to be applied as of November 2002.
Providing banking facilities to tourism investment companies which are about to start operating their activities.
Offering a grace period to the owners of the tourist projects to repay their dues.
On another plane, Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui said that the Ministry has drawn up a plan to lessen the effect of the current developments on the Egyptian tourism sector.
The plan focuses on intensifying the efforts to promote and market Egypt as a safe tourist destination worldwide. The plan will target some European and Asian markets which are less affected by the current developments such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Russia, the CIS countries and China. Beltagui added.
Moreover , the Ministry will offer tourist packages to enhance domestic tourism via offering discounts on prices of hotel accommodation.
Within this context, EgyptAir Company decided to grant tourists from various nationalities a 40 per cent reduction on domestic flights to tourist sites, as of November 1, with a view to activate the travel movement in the Middle East, Africa and a number of European countries.
LAST SECOND
Mubarak to visit Spain soon President Hosni Mubarak will visit Spain in the coming few days for talks with King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Aznar and other senior officials.
The Egyptian leader will address an annual forum on Mediterranean -European cooperation.
The organizers changed the date of the forum from October to November as the Spanish government has been keen on Mubarak's participation in the event.
The forum is annually drawing senior politicians, economists, thinkers and environment experts from the Mediterranean countries.
The event will address the socio-economic and political aspects of the Euro Mediterranean cooperation.