Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garrana highlighted importance of security and safety for all world countries in general, where he stressed that there is no difference between a political or epidemic crisis as all crises affect tourism which is a sensitive industry that is influenced by any incident.
In his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the International Conference on Partnerships for Tourism Safety and Security in the Middle East and North Africa on Tuesday he confirmed that we are in Egypt are interested in Tourism Industry in particular as it is held responsible for 11.3% of Domestic Product, which highlights its role in the national economy in addition to its role in employment as it offers 12% of job opportunities for manpower in Egypt.
He added that Egypt is committed of increasing the number of tourists above the current number that peaked to 9.1 million tourists, in parallel with maintaining the tourism reputation of Egypt. He explained that the countries affiliating to the United Nations made use of the crises and we want to learn from them in this conference.He pointed out that the Egyptian government established a ministerial committee for crises management that the Ministry is dealing with it at the aim of realizing an integrated image of tourism in Egypt. He affirmed that the Middle East region is in a dire need for security and safety for treating all economic problems and flourishment of tourism industry.
On his part the Director of United Nations Office in Cairo said that Tourism industry became now one of the key industries in the world and it has a great and influential role in interaction among peoples, strengthening relations between countries and more familiarity with various cultures of the mankind.
He added in the address that was delivered on behalf of U.N.
Secretary General Assistant for Safety and Security David Vinis that Tourism industry according to the recent report of World Tourism Organization disclosed that tourists flow reached to the number of 800 million. He pointed out that statistics of the organization asserted that Middle East region is one of the most rapid provinces in growth in tourism in the world, as growth rate is more than 5% and it is expected that share of the region would raise to more than 96 million tourists by the year 2020, which requires larges preparations.
