Engineer Sherif El-Sharbeni, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, chaired a meeting of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Tourism Development. During the meeting, the Authority reviewed its efforts to support development in areas under its jurisdiction. Dr. Manal Awad, Minister of Local Development, Mr. Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, and Major General Khaled Mubarak, Governor of South Sinai, attended in person or via video conference.
The General Budget for the Tourism Development Authority
During the meeting, the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Tourism Development approved the draft budget for the fiscal year 2025/2026. The Board also approved a request from the General Authority for Healthcare to allocate an 8,000 m² plot of land under the jurisdiction of the Tourism Development Authority to the Governorate of Suez to construct a field hospital serving the Ain Sokhna tourist sector. The request was made for the necessary procedures to be carried out by the National Center for State Land Use Planning.
The meeting also discussed the quarterly follow-up report on the Authority’s projects across all tourism development sectors until December 2024. The report covered the follow-up of 573 major projects, distributed by development type: 506 limited development projects, 67 integrated development projects, and 1158 sub-projects, totaling 1664 projects across all tourism sectors. The Board discussed proposed mechanisms to stimulate tourism investment projects, particularly in hotel facilities managed by the Tourism Development Authority. Additionally, the meeting addressed several issues related to tourism development projects and took the necessary decisions.
Tourism Projects
The meeting concluded with the Minister of Housing emphasizing the importance of adhering to the directives of political leadership to increase hotel room capacity and expand tourism projects. He instructed the preparation of a complete classification of delayed projects, along with proposals for all such cases, to be presented at the next meeting. He also noted that the proposed plan would be studied before being presented to the Board. Furthermore, a committee will be formed involving relevant stakeholders to amend the technical regulations governing the mechanisms of the Tourism Development Authority to include all necessary cases and procedures in the coming period.
