Egypt will host on 26th and 27th of the present month of June the meeting of Tourism Ministers of North Africa and Middle East region that will be attended by the Arab Ministers of Tourism, under patronage of the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garrana.
Advisor to the Minister Hesham Zazoua in an exclusive statement to Al-Masalla said that the meeting is the second to be held in an Arab country this year, following the meeting that took place in Lebanon on 18th of April. Topic of discussion is focused on “Partnership in field of security and safety of tourists”.
He added that the meeting is discussing the responsibility of civil society and ministries in maintaining the safety of tourists, which was emphasized through confirming necessity of concerting efforts in tourism industry between Public and Private sectors, which is applied in Egpt since several years after the full awareness of importance of such cooperation.
He pointed out that the meeting will have a thorough discussion on means of maintaining the security and safety of tourists along the period of vacation they spend, whether during transport, accommodation or recreation. This means that securing tourists should not be confined to transport only, so security responsibility should not be shouldered by security and police bodies solely but those working in the tourism industry should have an important role in the field that would be felt by the tourist and encourage him or her to come back to the tourist destination.
Zazoua said that the meeting will witness the convocation of 4 seminars on the sidelines that will discuss the key tourism issues in Middle East and North Africa region and what the industry is exposing to in these countries of risks that influence it and the great development witnessed by Tourism Industry in the region as well as means of keeping it and developing the growth rates.
He added that Egypt received confirmations of participation of all Arab Ministers of Tourism, particularly from Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and the Sudan. The Lebanese Minister of Tourism Joe Sarkis apologized due to the circumstances that Lebanon is witnessing at the present time, after he expressed a strong wish of participation.
The Advisor to the Minister of Tourism of Egypt explained that the meeting is convening upon request of World Tourism Organization, and stemming out of one of the committees of WTO that concerns Tourism in MENA, so Mr. Garrana approved the request and placed the meeting under his patronage.
The meeting will be attended by Deputy Chairman of the WTO Teleb El-Refaei, Regional Officr in WTO Amro Abdul Ghaffar, Secretary General of WTO Geofry Libman and a number of specialized consultants in the region affairs from the World Tourism Organization.
