Egypt concludes training of 1st batch of hospitality workers on food safety

CAIRO – 28 April 2022: The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced Thursday the conclusion of the training program targeted at 13,000 food and beverage workers, and who are staff members at hotels, resorts, cruise ships, restaurants and cafes at the governorates of Alexandria, Cairo, South Sinai, Red Sea, Luxor and Aswan.

The training programme was launched in December having as motto "For A Safe Tourism," given the focus was on food safety criteria. Equally, the training will be delivered to another batch so that the start will be either in May or June, targeting workers at hospitality establishments in the North Coast and Matrouh.  

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anany confirmed earlier in April that there is great rapprochement and cooperation between the Egyptian government and the private tourism sector, expressing his thanks to workers in the private sector for what they have done during the Coronavirus crisis, which proved that the sector deserves this unprecedented support from the Egyptian state.

This came during a meeting organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in cooperation with the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers in the garden of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, in the presence of members of the Board of Directors of the Federation and the Tourism Chambers and leaders of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the private sector.

El-Anany stressed that despite the Corona crisis, and then the Ukrainian crisis, the sector did not witness any layoffs of the workers in it, which is the goal that the state seeks under the directives of the President of the Republic, as this goal was a great commitment from everyone.

He thanked all workers in the tourism sector and state agencies in managing and dealing with the file of the return of all tourists of nationalities, whose developments in flight conditions prevented them from returning to their country, which earned the Egyptian tourist destination great confidence from the tourist markets and tourists from different countries of the world.

He pointed out that the tourism market was affected, as Russian and Ukrainian tourists represented 40 to 45 percent of incoming tourism to Egypt last October and November, stressing the global confidence enjoyed by the Egyptian tourist destination, expressing his hope that the coming period will witness more movement Inbound tourism to Egypt.

The minister stressed that the Egyptian tourist destination is a safe destination, especially in light of the precautionary and preventive measures taken by the Egyptian state and health safety controls to confront the repercussions of the Coronavirus crisis and their application with precision, rigor and optimization that ensures the safety of its citizens, tourists and workers in the tourism sector.

He pointed out that tourism is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities alone, but rather the responsibility of the state as a whole, explaining that after assuming the portfolio of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in December 2019, a request was made to form a ministerial committee for tourism for the first time in Egypt headed by the Prime Minister, and a decision was issued a few days later. He assumed the position, which facilitated the taking of many important decisions and actions that are collectively related to the sector.

For his part, the President of the Federation of Tourism Chambers, Ahmed Al-Wasif, stressed the importance of the tourism sector as an important income-generating industry that contributes significantly to the national economy, expressing his hope that the coming period will witness more advancement of this industry, especially in light of the important measures it will witness.

Al-Wasif pointed to the recovery of the sector and the solution of many outstanding problems.