01/14/2013
Another document has recently been put on the table of the Minister of Tourism of Egypt Hesham Zazua. It discusses the state of the art in the hospitality industry and provides guidance on how to best implement recently approved industry standards.
The paper was prepared based on the results of an official audit of a number of Egyptian hotels. In addition, the authors of the report draw attention to the beginning of the final audit of three-, four- and five-star hotels, which received 60 percent or more of the rating in numerous audits from November 2010 to July 2011. It was during the last audit that the management of most hotels received a draft of new standards and participated in the development of recommendations for their most effective implementation.
Thus, as follows from the report, starting from May of this year, the Egyptian hotel industry is included in the first stage of a 12-step program of introducing new standards. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2016. When talking about implementation, the drafters mean updating at least 80 percent of the health and tourism regulations and one hundred percent modernization of all key technical indicators. If the hotel fails to bring its activities in line with the new standards by 80 minimum established percent, it will be given an additional 6 months in order to meet the new requirements. If, after the grace period expires, the hotel still does not meet the new criteria, an audit will be carried out, regardless of the points received according to the previously valid ratings.
As for hotels with multi-level ratings and only one that meets the new standards, their audit will be conducted based on the minimum rating. Another option is to issue certificates for each parameter, based on the indicators of each specific rating.
For hotels where infrastructure deficits are identified, the standards for infrastructure deficiencies will not be applied.
The report sent to the Minister of Tourism says about the need to adjust a number of standards. Otherwise, individual hospitality establishments will simply not be able to implement their entire set. In this regard, a high-ranking source in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism noted that after the January revolution, prices for services in the national tourism industry have dropped significantly, for example, a night stay at a hotel has dropped to $ 65. According to the official, now, when Egyptian hotels are actually idle without clients, it is high time to start introducing new standards. Most of them should be operational by 2015. As for the two years that separate us from this time, they will be spent on the restoration of the entire industry.
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