The Minister of Energy to the members of the «National National»: The increase in the prices of «farm electricity» was offset by a subsidy in «water»
The tourism sector provides 750,000 jobs, and the Emiratisation rate is 0.07%.
«NBK» discussed the issue of the Ministry of Economy's policy regarding supporting the tourism sector in the country.
From the source
Dr. Ahmed Al Falasi: "The UAE has surpassed the top 10 international tourist cities in hotel occupancy levels."
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The Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, affirmed that the tourism sector is one of the largest sectors that attracts various competencies working in the country, providing nearly 750,000 jobs, pointing out during his participation in the Federal National Council session, which was held yesterday, to One of the most important challenges facing the Emiratisation file in this sector is the reluctance of citizens to work in the hospitality sector in hotel establishments in particular, while a parliamentary report approved by the Council emphasized a note regarding the low rates of Emiratisation in this sector, which did not exceed 0.07% in 2020.
During the session, the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union Water and Electricity Company, Suhail bin Muhammad Al Mazrouei, stated that the decision to increase electricity prices for farm owners was issued by the Council of Ministers and not by the company, stressing that “the government dealt with this file as a matter of national security.” , to protect farmers from the depletion of the state's groundwater and the high rates of land salinity.
He said, "It is true that we resorted to raising the cost of electricity for the farms, but in return the farm owners were compensated for this by subsidizing the prices of water provided by the company to them." So far it does not exceed 300 applications out of 9000 farms.
In detail, yesterday, the Federal National Council held its fifth session of the third ordinary session of the 17th legislative term, at the Council's headquarters in Abu Dhabi, headed by the First Deputy Speaker of the Council, Hamad Ahmed Al-Rahoumi.
During the session, the council discussed the issue of the Ministry of Economy’s policy regarding supporting the tourism sector in the country, in the presence of the Minister of Health and Community Protection, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, Abdul Rahman Al Owais, and Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Belhoul Al Falasi, and a number of tourism sector officials in the ministry. and government representatives.
The members reviewed the report of the Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee of the Council, on the subject, which concluded with a number of observations, most notably: the absence of federal legislation and laws regulating the tourism sector, the development of the tourism product, the availability of the appropriate investment environment to attract foreign capital, the reliance of each emirate on its local legislation The weakness of marketing the identity of the tourism sector in the country in light of the multiplicity and diversity of local visions in marketing the tourism identity independent of each emirate, and this negatively affected the “tourism identity strategy evaluation” of the state in 2017 compared to 2019, due to the absence of initiatives and marketing programs for the unified tourism identity In addition to the low rates of Emiratisation in the private tourism sector, where the Emiratisation rate reached (0.07%) in 2020, which is a low percentage compared to other sectors, and does not meet the requirements of development projects and foreign investments in the country.
In response to the council members’ interventions during the discussion of the general topic, the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, confirmed that the UAE surpassed in hotel occupancy during 2021 the top 10 global tourist cities, and achieved 90% of the revenues it was achieving before The "Covid-19" pandemic, pointing out that a unified institutional identity has been developed to promote the country in general to attract tourists who come from distant countries.
He said: "The state's unified tourism identity is inspired by the Emirates identity, which is ranked 18th and has a large market value exceeding $750 billion, superior to developed countries such as the United States of America. There is a tremendous effort to promote, and social influencers have been attracted from the region and abroad, and they For the history of the Emirates, heritage, and areas outside the main cities, which did not receive prior promotion, which is a start, and this is the second cycle, and we planned with the localities to target remote areas.”
He pointed out that what distinguishes the tourism sector in the country is diversity, especially since this sector is one of the sectors most affected by the Corona pandemic and global developments, but the presence of an integrated health system in the country gave confidence to tourists from outside the Emirates to visit the country.
With regard to the Emiratisation file in the tourism sector, Al Falasi stated that this sector is one of the largest sectors that attracts various competencies working in the country, as it provides about 750,000 jobs, pointing out that one of the most important challenges facing the Emiratisation file in this sector is the reluctance of citizens. From working in the hospitality sector in hotel establishments in particular, for various reasons related to the provision of spirits and the lack of salaries at the beginning of work.
He said, "Now there is more openness in this matter, and there are other tourism sectors that attract national cadres, and there are many jobs and there are great opportunities for citizens, and we expect that citizens will engage in the available jobs after the availability of salary support provided by the government through the Nafees program."
He revealed that the ministry had created the first federal license to practice the profession of tourist guidance in various tourist and archaeological sites in the country, explaining that this license is intended for national cadres wishing to work in the profession of tourist guidance.
The minister added: “During the past periods, we have noticed an increasing demand from various tourists and visitors to the tourist and archaeological sites in the country, for citizen tour guides to benefit from their information and experiences in explaining and clarifying all archaeological and heritage information, which prompted us to take the decision of the Federal License for Tourist Guidance, with the aim of attracting a large sector Among the national cadres wishing to work in this important profession, especially since the number of citizens who work in it does not exceed 500 tourist guides.”
Al Falasi continued: "The existing license is without fees for citizens, and the tourist guide for each emirate has two parts, one general and the other concerned with the local tourism product for each teacher and each emirate, and this license has been unified, provided that practicing the activity is subject to the requirements of each emirate."
Council member Muhammad Issa Al-Kashf asked the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union Water and Electricity Company, Suhail bin Muhammad Al Mazrouei, about “increasing electricity prices on citizens’ farms.” The minister replied that “the cost of water in the UAE is no less than 3.5 fils per year.” The average gallon connected to the house or farm, and in the past we did not have a water tariff for farms, but due to the preservation of groundwater for future generations, the Council of Ministers decided to focus the subsidy on water, as the Union Water and Electricity Company offered a price similar to the price offered to the citizen’s house, which is a penny and a half, On the other hand, electricity subsidies were lifted while maintaining subsidies on water prices.
Al Mazrouei said: "Supporting water prices will provide farms with arable water and produce better agricultural materials, while at the same time helping us to provide sustainable solutions to water security for the UAE, especially as we are at the beginning of governance and rationalization of this vital sector that faces many challenges, most notably the lack of rain and the depletion of water reserves. The groundwater of the state, and the high level of salinity in some areas as a result of the lack of groundwater.”
He added: “Since 2020, the Union Water and Electricity Company has started dealing with these challenges by contracting and purchasing quantities of desalinated water from developers and stations, and whether the company succeeds in marketing it or not, it remains obligated to purchase it, and for this, nearly 1.5 billion dirhams are invested to extend An additional network on the existing water network, part of which will be allocated to delivering water to farm owners, in order to dispense with desalination in their farms, and this is the reason for the increase in the electricity tariff decided by the Council of Ministers after reviewing a full study, which based on its results the decision was taken, with the directive to reduce Other fees, such as the fees for connecting electricity to farms at 50% (from 600 to 300 dirhams), which means that the government has distributed the subsidy process in a balanced way between water and electricity, in order to preserve the water security of the state.”
And the minister continued: “It is true that we resorted to raising the cost of electricity, especially for large farms, by an amount ranging between 1000 and 1200 dirhams per month on large farms, and 600 to 800 dirhams per month on small farms, but in return the farm owners were compensated for that by subsidizing water prices, and if we look To put the equation in another way, there is an integrated system to maintain water security and not to deplete it,” stressing that the government dealt with this file as a matter of national security, so the Union Water and Electricity Company was the first entity to provide water tariffs for farms, because it is responsible and concerned with water security in Country.
Recommendations
The Federal National Council, during yesterday's session, returned the recommendations of the Council's Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee, on the subject of the Ministry of Economy's policy on supporting the tourism sector, to the committee again, to reformulate them in line with the council members' vision that was put forward during the discussion of the topic, provided that Discuss and adopt it during the next session.
Among the recommendations is the proposal of draft laws regulating the tourism sector, provided that these projects include controls and standards regulating support for the tourism sector in the country, the establishment of a ministry concerned with tourism, similar to other countries, to be responsible for preparing programs and plans for the development of the tourism sector, and preparing programs and projects that support sustainable tourism. in the state.
The recommendations also included preparing a media strategy for tourism in cooperation with media institutions, activating and developing the memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry and the National Media Council to include media and tourism promotion, and preparing plans and work programs to ensure the development and qualification of national human cadres to work in the tourism field according to a specific time frame to raise Emiratisation rates in the tourism sector. Developing a unified digital platform that connects all stakeholders in tourism to the country.
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