Dear CDWS members,
The first meeting took place at the Minister of Tourism’s office in presence of the Minister of the Environment, her assistants, the head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation and the chairman of the CDWS. Followed by a longer meeting with the Minister of Environment and her assistants at the ministry, during which the CDWS demanded the following:
- A gradual approach should be applied in implementing the fees on the National Park areas – especially the Red Sea – considering the financial capability of the tourists visiting those areas to afford the fees, especially with the sector’s huge losses in the past years. Therefore, we requested to start by applying two dollars for two years, then raise the fee to be three and a half dollars and then after another two years to be five dollars.
- The annulment of the fees applied on the boats
- Not applying the fee structure on any diving site outside the National Park areas in the Red Sea governorate nor the environmental management areas in the South Sinai governorate.
- Requesting from the CDWS members not to coordinate with the National Park offices in case of diving outside the National Park area
- Creating a weekly ticket for the safari trips with the value of 40 dollars instead of the current value, which reached 90 dollars per person
The Minister of the Environment agreed on the following:
- Postponing the implementation of the decree no. 204 of 2019, on the environmental management areas only for three months as of the 1st of January 2020, the department of legal advice shall be consulted for an opinion on this matter, and the planned delay will be from the 1st of January 2020 (for three months) or until the department gives its consultation, whichever comes first
- Reducing 50% of the fees of the daily excursions departing from the city of Hurghada until the 1st of July 2020, excluding the safari
- Adding the phrase “diving sites in the Strait of Tiran” explicitly in the decree no. 204 of 2019
- Exempting the boats, less than 25 meters in length from paying the entrance fee of the national parks for six months, as of the 1st of January 2020
- Applying a weekly fee of 40 dollars for each visitor in the safari excursions in the Red Sea and the South Sinai governorates, upon the request of the organizers of the owners
The Minister of Environment rejected the rest of the demands. As for the court case, it is ongoing. However, the head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation pledged to drop the case that he filed to enable the Ministry of Environment to apply to the Legal Advice and Legislation’s general assembly to give their legislative advice on the issues of the environmental management areas.
