How did Egypt implement digital transformation in all fields of tourism and antiquities?

CAIRO – 27 June 2021: During the tenure of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian state made numerous achievements in a record time.

Among those are the huge achievements in the archaeological file, made through the Ministry of Antiquities before joining the tourism sector.

The most important progress that took place in the field is the digital transformation within the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which reached the following stage:

·Completing more than 70 percent of the digitization of the ministry's documents and files within the National Digitization Project.

·Developing the Umrah portal in cooperation with the Chamber of Companies, Travel and Tourism Agencies, to achieve linkage with flight reservation systems, hotels and agents.

·Creating pages for the ministry on various social media platforms including Instagram and Twitter, in addition to a channel on YouTube.

·Designing and completing a website for the Grand Egyptian Museum in preparation for its launch.

·Completing 90 percent of the digital infrastructure works at the Grand Egyptian Museum (technical services that serve museum exhibitions such as the digital museum and virtual reality), and completing 80 percent of the work of smart communication systems (ICT).

·Completing the information technology infrastructure, data security and multimedia works at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (different displays, interactive screens and floor screens in the museum's main exhibition hall).

·April-June 2020: Launching virtual tours with augmented reality technology for many museums and archaeological sites on social media platforms (for the first time), within the framework of the "Discover Egypt From Your Home" initiative during the period of suspension of tourism movement due to the global pandemic, in addition to creating new advertising slogans.

·September 2020: Contracting with the General Intelligence Service represented by E-FINANCE to implement the digital transformation project, and the services of archaeological sites and museums (electronic reservation platform). The project was presented to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Cairo International Telecommunication Exhibition "2020 Cairo ICT" on November 22, 2020.

·Issuing a ministerial decision to create a unit to collect data and prepare data lists for workers in the tourism sector (September 30, 2020).

·Signing a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to develop the technological infrastructure of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (November 10, 2020).

·Activating the electronic reservation system for the Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada Museums and the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir through improved windows for reservations by activating the electronic payment service using cards, electronic wallets and contactless cards (January 30, 2021).

·Launching the official website of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the first electronic ticket booking platform (April 1, 2021).