Egypt’s Min. of Tourism & Antiquities convenes with Min. of Communications & Information Technology to follow up on executive position of digital transformation projects

CAIRO – 20 June 2021: Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled el-Enani and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat held a meeting to follow up on the executive position of a number of projects being implemented within the framework of the cooperation protocol signed between the two ministries last November regarding the development of the technological infrastructure of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

During the meeting, Enani confirmed that the digital transformation project came from the strategy of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to achieve sustainable development goals and build an accurate information system on the various patterns of Egyptian tourism to build a diversified economy that depends heavily on the availability of tourism and antiquities services, improving the work performance of the ministry and the digital services provided to tourists, in addition to maximizing the use of modern technology in promoting Egyptian tourism and antiquities, introducing archaeological sites and museums, and providing tourism services to visitors and tourists.

For his part, Talaat explained that within the framework of cooperation between the two ministries and in light of building a digital Egypt, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology seeks to keep pace with global digital technologies and take advantage of the opportunities they offer in enhancing the competitive capabilities of the tourism and antiquities sector by providing digital mechanisms to create an added value to tourism services, which contributes to attracting and motivating tourists to visit Egypt, promoting its tourism components, and highlighting the cultural image of Egypt and its most important tourist and archaeological landmarks.

This meeting came to follow up on the works of the cooperation protocol between the Ministries of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, to ensure the progress of work in accordance with the specified time plan and to overcome obstacles that may face the completion of implementation, in addition to following up on what has been implemented in digitizing documents and archiving all papers and files in circulation at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, within the framework of concerted efforts to implement the project of moving the government to the new administrative capital.

During the meeting, it was announced that the electronic archiving of nearly 13 million papers of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities had been completed, as part of the move to the new administrative capital.

They also discussed business developments related to the executive position of the e-tourist visa portal to facilitate tourists in obtaining an entry visa to Egypt and adding new languages to the hotline (19654), which was provided and developed by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in cooperation with Exceed Company of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on the first of last July with the start of the resumption of the inbound tourism movement to Egypt in order to receive all inquiries and opinions of tourists throughout their vacation period in Egypt.

The meeting also discussed a proposal to develop a new service for tourists where telecommunication companies in Egypt would send an automated welcome message to tourists upon arrival at Egyptian airports and introducing them to the hotline number of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in order to communicate directly and faster with the tourists to provide them with maximum comfort.

Business developments regarding the development of the technological portals of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, whether serviceable or promotional, were also discussed, in addition to digitalization of services in hotel establishments and tourist shops, implementing a geographic information management system, and the creation of a mobile application to provide services to tourists.