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Monday, July 04, 2005
Brothers and Sisters It gives me pleasure to meet this distinguished Egyptian figures engaged in the tourism sector that has an important effect on investment, economic growth and job opportunities. It is my special pleasure to talk with you from Luxor; a city with a unique location on the world tourist map, and from Luxor airport that has been upgraded and extended at a cost of LE 450 million; increasing its area by fourfolds and its absorption capacity from 1.2 to 7 million passengers a year. Yesterday, I signed a decree for restructuring and activating the Supreme Tourism Council. This step reflects our recognition of the importance of this promising sector, especially in view of our many relative advantages that place us in a leading position among the competitive tourist destinations in an expanding international market. The restructuring of the Council is part of a vision that recognizes the need to create a focal point on the national level to be in charge of coordinating various State agencies and the private sector in all fields of tourism industry. I would like to reiterate statements already made last September that tourism industry is the future as it represents our most important service exports and is closely related to the question of exportation which should be a strategic orientation for the society as a whole. More than 10 percent of the Egyptian workforce are employed in tourism and its related industries, with their livelihood dependent on the volume of upward or downward inflow of tourists into Egypt. Moreover, tourism revenues are the most important source of foreign currencies for Egypt, totaling up to $ 6 billion last year, surpassing our oil exports and Suez Canal revenues. It is a source of pride for us all that tourism industry has witnessed unprecedented growth over the past ten years. The number of incoming tourists jumped from 3 million in 1995 to 8 million last year with an average annual rate of increaseof more than 25 percent a year over this period. This unprecedented growth in tourism sector would have not been scored, had it not been for the huge leap in Egypt?s infrastructure and information technology base achieved over the past two decades. Moreover, this gradual growth was driven by policies geared to develop the tourism sector, to increase hotel capacity, to upgrade airports and seaports and to diversify tourist destinations. The past two decades had witnessed a steady increase in the number of hotels, tourist villages and floating hotels, with their total absorptive capacity rising from 18,000 rooms in 1982 to about 150,000 at last year-end; an eightfold leap. Tourist development efforts have been instrumental in placing new Egyptian cities on the world tourist destination map. Besides Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Taba, Mersa Alam, Sahl hashish and other cities in Sinai and the Red Sea also flourished. Brothers and Sisters Such achievements in the tourism sector have been accomplished over the past years, in parallel with other achievements in various sectors of production and services. These were driven by policies geared to liberalize economy, encourage the role of the private sector, create a favourable atmosphere for attracting investments,boost exports and increase employment rates and job opportunities. These achievements have been made within an integrated economic system. Concomitantly, We have made long strides along the path of economic reform policies. This has led recently to a new turning-point based on new philosophy making the private sector a full partner in mobilizing necessary investments for growth, providing job opportunities for our citizens and increasing the income of the Egyptian family. The road is now paved for a promising economic break through in various fields of production and services, including tourism, so as to win a fair, and indeed well-deserved share of the global tourism movement. Indeed, we are fully entitled to such share in view of our own relative advantages, already enhanced by investments of more than LE 40 billion made over the past two decades mostly by the private sector. The state has exerted efforts and will continue to do so in order to complete infrastructure information technology and legislative frameworks necessary to create the optimum atmosphere for such break through. The private sector has to assume its responsibility in carrying out more investments in that promising sector and others, making good use of the facilities and privileges offered by the State. The object will always remain to expand the base of tourism industry, in view of its contribution to the economic growth process, improvement of the balance of payments and creation of job opportunities for our youth. Brothers and Sisters, Each investment that succeeds in attracting an additional one million tourist to the Egyptian tourism market, contributes to providing about 200,000 new job opportunities. This fact sums up the indications of the importance we accord to such vital sector in Egypt?s present and future. The government has drawn under my instructions, a plan reflecting a new and integrated vision to develop a system for the tourism sector, in order to increase the number of tourists to nearly one million a year over the coming ten years. The plan aims at increasing hotel capacity to 15000 rooms annually to 300.000 by the end of ten years and the number of tourists from 8 million last year to 18 million by the end of that period. This would create two million new job opportunities for our citizens. Such vision and its envisaged aims is clear-cut and workable, being based on realistic and well-studied policies that proved to be valid and successful on the strength of the achievements accomplished over the past two decades. Such achievements have been successively accomplished through a process, under my instructions, based on three pivots: The first was to attract the private sector to touristic investment. This was accomplished with the private sector undertaking the biggest share of total investments in this vital sector. The second pivot emanated from a new perspective of tourist development geared to upgrade its destinations and create new ones. That was the reason behind the boom in the tourist cities in South Sinai and the Red Sea, changing tourism map in Egypt. The new destinations now account for about 57 percent of total hotel capacity up from less than 4 percent in 1982. The third pivot is based on an early recognition of the importance of upgrading our airports and gradually giving access to our skies to incoming tourism. Our success in this field is evidenced by the increase in tourism movement after upgrading and modernizing the airports of Sharm el-Sheikh, Aswan and Luxor, starting work in developing Hurghada and Mersa Matrouh airports and following the gradual opening of our skies so far achieved. During the coming stage, we will continue to build on the gains already realized on these three pivots. Regarding the first pivot, we will continue to encourage the private sector to mobilize more investments in tourism industry that may provide a renewable source of employment opportunities for the new entrants to the labour market and gradually absorb unemployment building up from year of slow down which we have now left behind. We have opened wide vistas to the private sector and it is now time for it to step forward on this path. The private sector should shoulder its responsibility for mobilizing not less than LE 8 billion annually in tourism investments sector over the coming years in order for the objectives of this future vision to come true. We will continue to enhance a favourable and supportive climate for the private sector and its role; thus enabling it to realize that objective. We will develop tax administration so as to achieve the aims of the new tax law. We will enhance investment incentives to make up for the exemptions, abolished under this law. We will amend sales-tax-law so as to provide for deducting all inputs into service industries in general and tourism industry in particular. Moreover, we are determined to pursue the development of the banking sector so as to undertake its main role in supporting the private sector projects. I have given directives to develop mortgage lending mechanisms, as a mainstay of growth for tourism industry and an underpinning of investment in the future development of the infrastructure of tourist activity. As regards the second pivot of our move in the coming period, we will continue to upgrade existing tourist distinations and to create new integrated ones. We will continue to diversify and improve the quality of the services provided by tourist sector. We will intensify our efforts to open new markets for incoming tourism, along with parallel efforts for encouraging and promoting domestic tourism programmes. I would like to particularly stress the need to direct more attention over the coming period to tourist development of the North Coastal area. This priority of our coming move is tantamount in importance and positive reflections, to the achievements already made in the cities and beaches of South Sinai and Red Sea since 1980's uptil now. The new philosophy of our national economic system open the door for private investments to participate in building airports that serve new tourist destinations similar to Mersa Alam and al-Alamain airports. The expansion and upgrading of our airports will be accompanied with a similar expansion and development in the economic management of these airports. This should ensure that the standard of their performance is raised, the quality of their services upgraded and successful experiments and experiences in world airports are transformed and made use of, apart from maximizing economic returns from Egypt?s airports. We have already started to put into effect this orientation, by enlisting French and German expertise in five of our airports, and will pursue the same practice in the coming phase. We will allow the private sector to participate in providing air transport services at home and abroad. We are living an age of open skies and an increasingly expanding air transport movement. We have to meet requirements and seize the opportunity that such movement offers for promoting tourism and cargo transport movement. We should be ready for that, with upgraded and competitive airports using state-of-the-art technology and top-standard economic management. Such age of open skies requires us to continue, over the coming stage, to gradually open our skies to free competition in the field of air transport. As we have opened Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxor airports to such competition, we should gradually extend this practice to cover other airports; thus allowing them to experience the same steady growth in passengers and cargo movement. This, I know, places us in the face of many challenges against fierce competition. However, we are able to pursue a parallel move that can boost capacities of national air transport companies and render them qualified to confront such competition on both foreign and domestic aviation. The government is currently finalizing a masterplan for the North Coast development. I call upon the private sector investors to take up such investments as may be necessary to implement this masterplan from now through the coming years. It is now time for Egyptian tourism on the Mediterranean Coast to flourish, and for us to score the same success already achieved on the Red Sea and South Sinai shores. In the same context, I would like to stress the importance of living more incoming tourists from sisterly Arab countries and more Arab investments in tourism projects. This is now possible thanks to the institution of a legislative framework providing for real-property ownership rights apart from the steady improvement in the investment climate. As regards the third pivot of our future move, we will continue to improve existing airports and to build new ones. We will also continue to pursue, such policies that enhance economic management of these airports and pursue the gradual opening of our skies to incoming tourism to Egypt. Ladies and Gentlemen: The record-breaking and unprecedented figures achieved by the tourist industry in Egypt last year augur well for us all. Their indications are further highlighted by the fact that the achievements, as revealed by statistics, persist this year and even surpass those of last year. These positive indicators for the tourist sector add up to many current positive developments in macroeconomic indicators. For us, this is a source of increasing self confidence and stronger belief that we are already on the right track towards growth, employment, more job opportunities for our citizens and more income for every Egyptian family. Allow me to express once again my pleasure to meet and talk to you. I am confident of your concerted efforts to put into effect our visions and ambitions for the future of thetourism industry. I am also confident that the Supreme Tourism Council, with its new composition, will duly perform its role in coordinating between all State bodies and Egyptian, Arab and foreign private sector investors towards this end. Greeting to you workers in this significant sector that truely represents a corner stone of a bright image we all envisage for the future of Egypt and its citizens. The propitious signs of this future bear for us a better life that we are making together with new thoughts and philosophy and a clear vision of the road that leads us to it. Thus, we can reep the fruits of our achievements over the past two decades, and move forward in sure and hopeful steps towards vast horizons promising welfare to all. May Allah guide us all to success and may Allah?s Peace , Blessings and Mercy be unto you. |
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