The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anany and the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat have witnessed the signing of a cooperation protocol between the two ministries for developing the ICT infrastructure of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The protocol was signed by the Vice Minister for Tourism Ghada Shalaby, and the Deputy ICT Minister for Infrastructure Raafat Hindy.
The three-year protocol aims to contribute to achieving the transformation into a digital society, developing and improving tourism services, demonstrating the value of monuments and tourist attractions and promoting them to enhance financial resources, as one of the key drivers of economic growth.
The protocol also aims to preserve, document and provide information on Egyptian antiquities using modern technologies; raise awareness of monuments; introduce the Egyptian and international communities to the activities and services of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities; contribute to boosting tourism in Egypt in the coming period; and increase the number of incoming tourists.
The Minister of Tourism stated that he was pleased with the protocol, highlighting that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) spared no effort or technical support in supporting the Ministry of Antiquities (now the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities). The protocol is the third to be signed between the two ministries to promote tourism and antiquities, he added.
The protocol is a double protocol for tourism services, for promoting the Egyptian tourism product and providing new digital tourism services to make the tourist experience in Egypt exceptional, and provide a very important service: documenting and keeping record of artifacts in Egypt, said the Minister of Tourism.
El-Anany highlighted that the Coronavirus pandemic has proven how successful the Ministry’s new experiment has been, enabling, through its different communication channels, virtual visits to a number of archeological sites and museums. The visits have been very popular among the Egyptian and global societies, which encouraged the Ministry of Tourism to intensify work in this area. There is no better arm for the Ministry of Tourism in this field than MCIT, he added.
Moreover, the Minister of Tourism underlined that the protocol is based on the strategy of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and creating an accurate information system for the various types of tourism and culture in Egypt, to build a diversified economy depending on the availability of services, the most important of which are tourism and antiquities services.
The protocol is the Ministry’s legitimate channel to operate, and the beginning of a more powerful era of cooperation, El-Anany said, adding that the biggest beneficiary of the protocol is the Egyptian tourist and citizen, and the preservation of antiquities for future generations.
For his part, the ICT Minister said that the protocol is a continuation of the cooperation between the two ministries in a number of projects for using ICT to promote Egyptian tourism at the global level, and introduce the world to the unique archaeological treasures of Egypt.
The protocol comes within the framework of MCIT efforts for establishing cooperation with all ministries to build Digital Egypt to render excellent digital services and keep pace with the global technological development, Talaat stated.
He highlighted that the two ministries will cooperate to use modern technologies in documenting and providing information on the Egyptian archaeological and tourist heritage, and tourism and archaeological services, to Egyptian citizens and the world. This is in addition to using information technology to enhance communication between tourists and tourist attractions in Egypt, through creating and developing e-portals and mobile applications.
The protocol comprises implementing a project for keeping record of and displaying antiquities within virtual tours in museums and archaeological sites in Egypt, using Augmented Reality (AR) techniques. The aim is to introduce people all over the world to Egyptian antiquities, thus encouraging them to visit Egypt, stated the ICT Minister. He underlined that the two ministries will keep on collaborating to implement more projects.
The protocol, in addition, includes developing applications and e-portals.
