Egypt’s newly appointed Tourism Minister Khaled Rami is aiming to revive Egypt’s tourism industry and attract 20 million tourists to the country a year by 2020.

Political and social instability seen in Egypt since the 2011 revolution has damaged Egypt’s tourism industry, which is a vital part of the country’s economy, generating foreign exchange and employment.

Tourist numbers in 2010 stood at 14.7 million compared with just 9.9 million in 2014.

But speaking to MEED on the sidelines of the Egypt Economic Development Conference on 14 March, Rami said that “safety was not an issue at all”. He said that one of the failings of the country’s tourism sector was its inability to successfully promote itself.

“We didn’t advertise strongly enough in the past four years, but now, with the new advertising campaign, we are back on the right track again,” he said.

Several new tourism projects along the Red Sea coast are also progressing and looking for support from private sector developers and investors.

One of the projects is the development of the Gamsha Bay, located 40 kilometres north of Hurghada City.

The Tourism Development Authority is offering the land, which includes an 8.8km seafront, to companies to develop a tourist resort. HC Securities and Investment is working on the project with the government.

Rami said there are two investors currently lining up for the project. He added that the Tourism Ministry was also looking to the private sector to support tourism in Cairo.

He told MEED that it was looking to bring in a private company to act as a site manager to manage the antiquities area in Cairo. He said the initiative was to “make it easier for everyone to visit sites and show them in the light they should be”.

Rami was appointed as tourism minister earlier this month as part of a wider cabinet reshuffle. He replaced the former tourism minister Hisham Zaazou.

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