Egypt's ministries of tourism and education have agreed to develop a vision for introducing tourism ethics in the primary education curriculum, it was announced on Saturday.
The decision was made to raise awareness among students of tourism's importance to the Egyptian economy, and encourage the preservation of Egypt's tourism and heritage areas.
Rania al-Mashat
Minister of Education Tarek Shawki and Minister of Tourism Rania al-Mashat have agreed to form a joint committee to facilitate cooperation between the two ministries. The two ministers also agreed to organise a competition entitled "The Ambassador for Tourism" for high school students.
Tarek Shawki
Tourism is one of Egypt's most important sectors, though it is still recovering from the 2011 Egyptian revolution's impact on visitor numbers. Before the revolution, tourism accounted for 12 percent of Egypt's workforce, generating more than 11 percent of GDP with around 14.7 million visitors providing revenues of nearly US$12.5bn.
Since 2011 the numbers have steadily fallen, with only 8.2 million visitors in 2017, the same as in 2005.
