A new law was issued in 2022, regulating Hotels and Tourism Establishments in Egypt. The Executive Regulations ought to be issued within six months. The new law broadly defines hotels as any premises intended to accommodate Egyptians and Foreigners, such as hotels, motels, tourist villages, safari camps, and floating hotels.
Tourism establishments are defined broadly as any premises intended for receiving Egyptians and non-Egyptians to serve food and drinks, such as restaurants, boat restaurants, food trucks, nightclubs, souvenir shops, etc.
There are specific requirements that the hotel or tourism establishment must abide by, such as obtaining a license to carry out the activity and complying with specifications (such as firefighting system, environmental and health requirements, occupational and safety measures).
The new law stipulates that any individual working in the management or supervision of a hotel or tourism establishment must have a special license against a fee.
The hotel and tourism establishments must install inside and outside CCTV cameras and abide by all security requirements as detailed in the law's administrative regulations.
Suppose tourism establishments wish to serve alcohol or shisha. Then, a special license is required against a fee.
The law requires hotels and tourism establishments to disclose a list of all guests monthly to the competent authorities. A question arises regarding the scope of information that must be disclosed and hotel owners' liability under the Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020.