Project, which will be complete by second half of 2021, aims to cash in on sector’s expected post-pandemic recovery CAIRO: Abu Dhabi Tourism Investment Company (ADTIC) has announced plans to refurbish its three hotels in Egypt. It is part of a strategy designed to help the business cash in on the major post-pandemic recovery it expects in the country’s tourism sector. ADTIC’s portfolio in Egypt includes three hotels, rated at four and five stars, in Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. The company, in which government agency the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has an 84.3 percent stake, also owns 99.3 percent of the shares in Misr Hotels Company, which owns a five-star resort in Luxor. Mohamed Saif Al-Suwaidi, director general of ADFD and chairman of the board of directors of ADTIC, said he expects great activity in the Egyptian tourism sector when air travel returns to normal after the pandemic and tourists start to return. “We chose this time in which the tourism movement is witnessing a decline, and so are hotel occupancy rates in most countries of the world, to rehabilitate hotel facilities in preparation for receiving visitors for the post-coronavirus phase and the return of tourist and economic activity,” he said. ADTIC CEO Haitham Farouk said that the strategic locations of the hotels, and their ability to generate high levels of revenue, make investing in them feasible, especially with the expectations of growth in the sector after the pandemic. He added that there will be an increased emphasis on electronic transactions and processing procedures at the hotels to ensure that physical contact is reduced as much as possible, especially in the early stages of the recovery. He added that the development and modernization of hotel facilities, making use of the latest technologies, digital transformation and other services, will help ADTIC keep pace with the global tourism industry. The changes will increase hotel occupancy rates and have a positive affect on Egypt’s tourism revenues, he added. He expects the main stages of development and modernization to be completed during the second half of 2021. The tourism and hospitality industry in Egypt is one of the main sources of national income. It contributed revenue of $13 billion in 2019, an 18 percent increase on the previous year.