[IMG=21189-7032] The other day the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt adopted a new system for hotel classification. Amr Elezabi, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, stated as follows: ‘all hotels will be classified according to 60 criteria that will allow to determine the level of every hotel more precisely. It happens that a hotel was recognized a 5* one upon the traditional classification system, but interior walls are made of plastic instead of natural material. Tourists pay $400 per night and can hardly complain.
According to Amr Elezabi the new system has just come into force and it is not clear at the moment how much time the process will take. Meanwhile, the Ministry plan to finish in a year.
On the one hand Russian travel market players complain that the quality of some Egyptian hotels does not meet the set star level and therefore they agree that the initiative of the Ministry is important and reasonable at the moment. Gennady Kosarev, General Director of Fresh Travel, explained: ‘the main difficulty related to the exchange of a hotel: how could we be sure it was equal to our client’s choice?’. On the other hand, two questions arise. Firstly, whether the new system of hotel classification provokes increase in accommodation rates? Some hoteliers will bear additional expenses in order to meet the required standard. Amr Elezabi, however, commented in this respect: ‘the market itself will decide how to form the pricing policy. I do not think the new classification system will affect this’. Furthermore, Denis Krilov, Head of Marketing Department of RTC, expressed his point of view: ‘after the new system is applied some hotels will lose ‘stars’; as a consequence, their tariffs will reduce’.
Secondly, is it possible to ‘filter’ all Egyptian hotels? ‘Everything depends on how tough conditions the Ministry will set for hotels. For example, if the phone company phones you saying your number will be blocked if you do not pay the bill tomorrow, you will go to the bank immediately’, commented metaphorically Anna Podgornaya, General Director of Pegas Touristik LTD. According to Amr Elezabi, it is hardly possible to make hotels go through the classification procedure ‘in the form of order’; however, those that will try to avoid the classification will be added to ‘black list’. Besides, the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt plan to recommend hotels with ‘new stars’ to tour operators and direct clients.
