Aldau Development: Modern Hospitality Meets Millennia-Old Treasures

Aldau Development has earned a reputation for excellence in both Real Estate and Hospitality, with developments in Egypt and the United Kingdom. Their strategic partnerships with marquee brands such as Hyatt International, IHG, and Deutsche Hospitality have further cemented their standing internationally. 

Boston University School of Hospitality and Questrom School of Business designed a customized Executive Education program for Aldau -- a testament to Aldau's commitment to leadership and entrepreneurship.

In this podcast, Dean Arun Upneja talks with Tarek El Masry, Chief Operating Officer, and Mario Larese, Director of Development & Technical Services, about Aldau's vision for bringing excellence in hospitality to real estate projects. 

The “Distinguished” podcast is produced by Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. 

Host: Arun Upneja, Dean
Producer: Mara Littman, Executive Director of Strategic Operations and Corporate Relations
Research and Content Creation: Lu Lan
Editing: Isabella Laikin
Sound Engineer: Andrew Hallock

Music: “Airport Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Transcript

Blending Modern Luxury With Egypt's Heritage: The Hyatt Regency Cairo West

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Distinguished Podcast. Have you ever dreamed of going to Egypt? Well, you are in luck today. We have two exceptional leaders from Al Dao Development in Egypt with us today: Tariq Al-Masri, Chief Operating Officer, and Mario Lerese, Director of Development and Technical Services. Al Dao is a leader in both real estate and hospitality, with best in-class developments in Egypt, United Kingdom, and hopefully expanding to many more places. I'm Arun of Neja, Dean of the Boston University School of Hospitality, and I am excited to interview these two amazing gentlemen today. Al Dau has earned a reputation for excellence in both real estate and hospitality with developments in Egypt and United Kingdom. Their strategic partnerships with marquee brands such as Hyatt International, IEG, and Doshe Hospitality have further cemented their standing internationally. So Al DAO's vision in partnering with Boston University to create a customized executive education program showcases their dedication to leadership and innovation. I've had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how Tariq and Mario have gained valuable insights into entrepreneurship, hospitality, and real estate development through the program. It's a pleasure to have Tariq and Mario with us today in the studio, and I look forward to sharing their experiences and insights with you, along with Al Dao's vision for the future. So welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Thank you very much for this such great introduction.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

So I was really very impressed when I visited the Hyatt Cairo. You have beautifully blended modern luxury with Egypt's rich historical culture of hospitality. Many times during my stay in Cairo, I heard the term Egyptian hospitality. So how do you strike that balance between contemporary design and honoring Egypt's heritage?

SPEAKER_00 2:08

This is Tara El Masri. First of all, uh thank you very much for your hospitality. We are really happy to be here today. Coming to Hyatt Residency Cairo West, it's a quite good story for us. This hotel was built during the COVID. It took from us uh one year and a half. Uh everyone was working from home. We were focused, working in the hotel, doing our best and utmost to open on time, which we did. The hotel uh uh uh is well designed. The hotel uh is modern, um having the twist from the Egyptian uh uh boat uh to a modern and uh nice culture uh that anybody is coming, the hotel the hotel even colors is welcome. Um we have a quite nice opening because we are the only modern hotel in this area, in Giza area, which is uh the pyramids area. Uh we are overlooking pyramids. Um and the good thing in this hotel, after three months, we got an award from Hyatt and we got an award from TripAdvisor to be number one in the destination in terms of guest satisfaction.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

I loved it. Yep. When I went there, it was the the pyramids were pretty close by. And um again, I was just impressed with the level of service that is there at the hotel. So very impressive. I want to talk about this new hotel that is going to be opening very soon. Uh so can you tell us what is special about this new Hyatt-centric that you're opening, Mario, and particularly with reference to art.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Absolutely. Uh, this is Mario speaking. Well, during the development phase and especially the concept, the preliminary concept phase, we spoke to Hyatt and he explained to us what the centric is. The Hyatt Centric Hotel is what it stands for. So it was supposed to be central, centric in the city. Uh, we wanted to add on that though, because we were very impressed. We just hired basically a director of art, and she is very well known in the art scene in Cairo. So we decided to make it an art hotel, and we add this with the central location. And in Cairo and in Egypt, especially, there's actually a big art scene. A lot of talented artists from um from paintings to 3D works to statues, whatever you tons. So we added that all into the interior design and into the public area design. So when you enter now, you have in in the lobby, for example, it it's full of statues that are inspired by the actually seven pillars of Cairo, of Egypt, sorry, of Egypt, which are I have it's which is Islam, it's um it's Greek, it's Roman. So we added uh basically a lot of local artists uh doing the design development to have their input in the public areas, but also in the rooms. So, for example, on top of the headboard we have different pictures and paintings inside the room. We have a baboon, which is basically the baboon from the temples that stands with the hands up and welcomes the people that enter the temples and the sun in the morning. So this we have at the entrance of the rooms, and then of course, in the pool area, we have uh statues from some local artists in the restaurant. And now Tariq, with his operations team, he added a lot of other touches that really make the difference.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

So have you already handed it over to Tarek, or is it still close to being handing over?

SPEAKER_03 5:54

We are working together now as a team on this. Uh the construction is finishing the last items. Tarek and his teams are absolutely helping, and from our side, we only have to do the fire life safety commissions, and then it's all in his hands as he opened the regency to open the centric now.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Many hotels in the US might have a dog or a cat in the lobby. Are you gonna have a baboon walking around in the lobby?

Opening the Hyatt Centric: 310 Rooms, Loft Suites, and Swim-Up Pools

SPEAKER_03 6:19

I wished. I'd be the first one to say we need to do that, but I don't think that's allowed in the city. That's not a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Okay, let's get that. Tarek. Yes, second uh second baby in Cairo. Uh newborn by the 15th of October. I have a full team working since uh three months now uh to make it happen. We are doing our utmost uh to show Cairo uh the first Art Hotel in Egypt. Uh it will be a plus for our group. It's a nice modern hotel, very colorful. We are using the orange, the yellow, uh, the blue. Uh uh even the restaurant with nice uh art lobby. When you enter the lobby behind the reception, we have our famous, famous singer, uh 1960, 1970. Uh her name is Omokal Sum. It's an Arabic singer. We have a full picture behind the reception. Uh we have really uh different service. We different service than what we have in Regency. Uh different uniform. We even from the art, we got to the idea that we really have uh the uniform coming from art uh for the stuff. Um the hotel is very welcoming. The hotel swimming pool is really nice. It's a 310 rooms. It will be the first hotel having uh loft and having also uh swim-up suites. Cairo is missing such a nice uh nice modern hotel. Uh we we we we are trying to go out of the typical city hotels to a more resorty hotel to really feel fun. The clients are coming for an experience, the clients are coming for culture, so they will have the first art hotel that you really see uh a story behind the hotel. So we are looking forward to receive the first client on 15th of October, and this will be our second high hotel in Cairo.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

The first art hotel in Egypt, and I'm assuming the first art high-centric as well, probably.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Inspired by art.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Inspired by art.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

And furthermore, we are now working with our real estate division to also have branded residences in our complex. So next to the Hyatt Centric and the Hyatt Regency, we we will develop about 700 residences and we will brand them centric and regency. So this is all in the works right now, and we hope that we will finalize these ones by the end of the year, and then we will start building the residences.

Aldau's Model: Own, Construct, and Manage With Franchise Partners

SPEAKER_02 9:12

So will these be uh rented out as or will they be sold to individual uh people and then they can sort of hand it back to you for management in case they don't want to come and stay?

Aligning With Egypt's Vision 2030: The Aldau Sustainability Framework

SPEAKER_00 9:23

We sold it out uh and uh the clients will give it to us back for renting pools. Uh we as a hotel, we will look after service service apartments in terms of or in all regards, housekeeping, food and beverage, laundry. So uh it will be the first service apartments for height in Cairo. And um good that Mario opened the subject because Al Dow Development is is uh is is not only hospitality uh division, it's a hospitality and real estate construction division. So we usually we we own, we construct, and we manage with a third party franchise. So we choose in Cairo the third party, which is Hyatt, and we choose uh Steigenberger for uh Horgada Hotels. And in London, we choose uh IHG to uh to have it as a franchise and we operate. So we're operating all. Now it's a turn of uh real estate. We bring uh hospitality to real estate, uh, which is really different in Cairo as a slogan. Uh usually every investor in Cairo uh for real estate is selling apartments and mentioning that he will build the hotel. We are doing it vice versa. We build the hotels, we are well-known hotels, and now we are starting selling real estate. So we do have 1,000 apartments in Horgada called the Dauhats, and we have another one, El Dau Strand, which is 350 apartments uh uh facing the sea. And in Cairo, as Mario just mentioned, we are coming up with uh high-tresidence, uh high-centric and high-regency, uh, in order that we promote it uh to Cairo, and uh Cairo will see also something new because the hotels already exist.

Solar Energy, Water Recycling, Xeroscaping, and Local Materials

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Okay, so with Egypt's Vision 2030 aiming for sustainable growth, how has Al DAO aligned its development strategies with these national goals?

The Sultan Project in Hurghada: 100% Local Materials and Zero Imports

SPEAKER_03 11:21

So, how do we align that? We have basically we developed something we called ALDAO sustainability. So we have a handbook and a brochure that we distributed to our staff and as well as our partners. For example, hired when we did the hired regency Cairo West and the Hyatt Centric Cairo West, they asked us, what is your sustainability efforts? So we showed them our brochure, what we were doing, and how we implemented it into their projects. Uh, as Tig knows in his hotel, so he has induction cookers wherever possible to save on energy, to save on gas. We have steam boilers that are really energy efficient for the laundries. We have in Huergada at the top of our Aldao International Conference Center is plaster with photovoltaic cells, which directly feed into our uh air conditioning units and saves us a lot of energy there. Then we in the new hotels we are now working to get um xeroscaping, landscaping, which means that we're only using local plants. We don't import anything, anything, everything is local. And you know, Cairo is hot, huh gotta so we save a lot of water. The water that we do use to um to fertilize the gardens and the grass is basically filtered water from our sewage tanks, which go straight in there and are made safe to be used there, so we don't go into the regular water grid. We have in Huaqada, we have lakes actually in our property, which we use not regular water, but we use the seawater which will be pumped from the ground up to go into those lakes. And then, of course, I mean we have low-flow faucets, we have low flow toilets, we have any any uh in all the corridors for the staff areas, we have automatic lights so that the lights always turn off when nobody is there working. And yeah, basically, I mean I can give you a couple more. The new hotel we're doing now in Hogada, a Sultan project, what we are another 400, 500-room hotel resort. We decided with the interior designer and the architects to use only local materials, which means we will not import from China. So we have basically CO2 consumption completely down. All the interior was specifically tailored to be made in Egypt by local uh consultants, by local businesses. So this is also good for the local communities, and it's gonna be a fantastic project because it also then gives us uh in the interior design, we have the heritage of Egypt incorporated because the lamps will be made there from the copper manufacturers in Cairo that are in the Kana el Khalili. Uh, all the furniture with wood comes straight from Cairo. It's built down in Hogara, and then we bought, for example, I don't know how many cubic meters are like, but uh tons of old railroad slippers from the old uh Cairo Railroad. And we just stored them, and now we're using them to manufacture our own tables for our restaurants and the interior, uh the interior of some of the rooms for the new projects.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Wow, you have an unbelievably extensive effort in the sustainability area. That's very impressive.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

One question, I just to follow up on that lakes you said in her gata results that you pump the seawater. So then those lakes are all saline lakes, then they're salt-watered?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

No, it gets filtered.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

It gets filtered and then it goes straight into. I mean, they're not really big lakes. We have a gulf course, but it depends in between. So it comes up, it gets filtered because the salt will block our pumps. Right. And then it gets basically washed back down again.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Oh, very good. Very good. Okay. So let's um, you know, when I I want to talk about tourism in Egypt and who is visiting. Where are most of your international visitors coming from? Are they which countries are they from? So which parts of the region, Tarek?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Uh surprising. Yes. Cairo, number one nationality is Americans. Wow. Okay. The second nationality is Spanish. Uh third nationality is Chinese-Japanese. Um, you know, it's Cairo is different nationalities than Horgada and Shalmashik. For instance, we have our hotels in Horgada, which is a Steigenberger Dao Resort. Um our Horgada hotels, there are three hotels. Uh Steigenberger Daud, small luxurious at the beach. We have Steigenberger Equamag family hotel with aqua parks, uh 720 rooms, and we have also Steigenberger Pure Lifestyle, which is adults only, 135 suites. Umly Germans. Uh 70% of the hotels are Germans. Uh we have uh different nationalities. Uh we get used to uh in the 20 2020 27 20 207 208. Golden Years for us is 210, 24 different nationalities under one roof. Uh Russians was playing very well. Okay. Uh half of the hotel was also Russians. However, once 2011 incident happened, the Russians is getting less. But till now, it's one of our nationalities. Uh we have in Horgada also Polish. Uh we have uh Armenian, we have UK, is uh the third nationality mix. Uh Egyptians this year, year to date, number one nationality. We have a lot of Egyptians coming to us during summer. Uh Cairo also we have a lot of uh Egyptians due to the weddings and the events, so they are getting used to come and stay with us uh during their weddings on Friday weekends. Uh, we do have also uh um like a brunch with an offer, special offer for the clients. So they are coming to stay one night in Cairo. So let's say that we have different nationalities, but we are depending on Germans uh on Horgada and American and Spanish in Cairo. This is our uh feeder market.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So I'm assuming the Germans that are coming to the Steinenberger Resorts on the Reds in Horgata. Yes. They are mostly coming for leisure. But what about the Americans in Cairo?

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Is that leisure?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

It's it's leisure, it's it's uh it's more culture. Most of the most of the Cairo, Cairo is a three nights stay. Okay. Horgada is from seven to fourteen nights leisure. Cairo hotels, uh uh usually we have uh something called uh touristry. The tour street that people is going to Luxur, Aswan, then Cairo. So they are usually having a full uh tour, uh coming to Cairo for pyramids, coming to Cairo to see the museum, uh, and also we will, according to the Ministry of Tourism and our uh delegations, we are expecting uh a big increase once we open our new uh great museum, because you need to have you need to spend like three days to finish this. So we are also expecting to have uh an extensive uh length of stay in Cairo instead of three nights to be four nights, one more night, that the clients really have the time to visit uh more.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Interesting. Okay. So the uh and and I'm I'm happy to hear that you have um a big domestic um sector now. Can you talk about labor costs and how does that make a difference to the service?

SPEAKER_00 19:04

I have to say that um since I joined this company 19 years now working with them, we are looking after employees. We are looking for uh stability. I have a turnover of 3%, which is very good in terms of 1,550 employees in Horgada. We are talking about Cairo Hotel is almost 420 employees. Uh we develop our employees, we train them, we look after their career pass, we uh we promote from within. We are trying to do our best in terms of every uh everyone have his choice to to move from Horgada to Cairo for any new openings. So we are really looking after our stuff, and uh we usually do a lot of uh um appreciation for them, uh especially in all regards. So uh our stuff is uh well maintained. Um the clients know them very well. Repeaters, especially, we have like 25% to 30% repeaters in Horgada. So they really look after our stuff, and the staff uh are always happy. And Egyptians, I will not say that because I'm Egyptian, but Egyptians are friendly. Egyptians like to serve uh as well, they they they work from heart. And in our hospitality business, if you didn't work from heart, you will never reach anything. So we really work from heart and we really uh like what we are doing. So uh the most important for Egyptians, you appreciate they feel that you are your backbone, you are backbone for the staff, you're looking after them in all regards, in bonuses, in incentive. So this is why we we have a stable uh employment.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

You know, so when I was there, I mean I when I spoke to so many people, this commitment of Al DAO to its employees came through very clearly in all my discussions with so many people. As an example, um what happened during the pandemic when everyone else around was laying off staff and firing them? What was going on in Al DAO?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Our owner, Engineer Bessel Semi-Sat, he decided to ensure that there is no cut of salaries for all our employees in SOLA 11. We didn't fire any employer. Even usually, when you have a three-month trial for any new employer, we didn't uh cut, we we left the employee to work and continue working with us. Um our owner really is looking after employees, he's looking after management. He is not he he he he said very clear all this staff were supporting me in a good times, I need to support them in a bad times. So he is one of the few owners who didn't. Cut any uh from our staff, he kept the m the salaries 100%.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

So clearly he must have taken a lot of losses during that time, but that just speaks to his commitment to his staff and his, you know, and the people who are.

Promoting From Within: Career Growth Across the Organization

SPEAKER_00 22:15

I don't see these losses. I see this very smart. He makes almost 2,000 employees loyal to the company. We are proud, while we are mentioning it today, in 2024, what we are what we did. And we are really happy uh to uh to have this story, successful story with us. He was really smart, he he took it, and now it's returned back to him because now, as I mentioned in the beginning, it's a 3% turnover, which is very low percentage in Egypt.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Right. That is absolutely incredibly low percentage of turnover. So um there is uh something else that you mentioned um that is promoting from within, and I'm gonna return to that in a couple of minutes. But I want to ask uh Mario about what are the other opportunities and areas of growth for the company? What's next for Aldao?

Expansion Pipeline: Greece, Spain, Hungary, and Beyond

SPEAKER_03 23:07

Well, we do have a couple of projects in pipeline. I mean, we're working now on a on a mega project next to the pyramids. Uh we have Aldao is a subsidiary of Sumcrete, and the Sumcrete headquarters is very close to the pyramids of Giza, and basically on the opposite side of the new museum, which is due to open hopefully next year, if not this year. And uh, well, we are planning on developing a hotel there, about 700, 800 rooms when it's finished, but phase one will be probably one tower with around 350 rooms. Um, the brand is yet to be decided, but it it's it's a mega project with a convention center, with uh food court, with with shopping malls, with a casino, with everything in a really strategic location. Uh, we do have other projects around the world as well. We have one really big project in London. We own the holiday in London West there. Uh we did get planning consent from the mayor already to basically demolish it and build two towers there. One with 47 stories and one with 54 stories. Where we also want to do a higher-centric at this point. We also have the verbal agreement to make it a high-centric, plus another 702 built-to-rent apartments, which London is in dire need right now, as the housing is a big catastrophe, if I may say so.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Right. Yeah, and not just London, but all major cities in the world are I know in Boston and New York and all other cities, you know, there is not enough housing. So that is amazing. That's a huge big influx of apartments.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

And apart from that, we are planning to expand. We're always looking for new projects. We we were looking in Greece, we were looking in Spain, we were looking in Hungary, uh, also in Germany for a little while. Then, of course, London, if anything else comes. And as we discussed this morning, maybe Boston now. I hope so too. But no, we are open for any developments that come to our tables and we evaluate anything that is there. With, you know, we go through thanks to you now, more detailed visibilities. Yes. That was a big part of the executive education.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Fantastic. So uh Tarek, I want to come back to um you were part of this inaugural Boston University's executive education program. Uh you both were participant there. So, my question is how did that program help you to expand your thinking or leadership skills or our real estate skills? I mean, what did that do for you?

SPEAKER_00 25:52

First of all, um finance played a good role. We we're usually using our laptops in equations, uh easy to do. Right. But we didn't do it, we didn't know really how it works. So it was for us very good uh uh to understand from where this number is coming and what's behind. So uh uh it was very interesting to understand this. Plus um the second course, while we are understanding as well uh our personality, other personalities, how we how how from how you can figure out uh it's support it will support us a lot during our interviews for our new hiring. It will support us a lot for our currently team members. Um for me, this is my uh two main uh took-home from such great uh trainings uh which we got in Boston University.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Fantastic. But you did mention that you promote from within. Yes. So how what kind of trainings do they are they only getting on-the-job training, or how are you sort of helping them expand their skill set and their management and leadership skills as you're promoting them?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I learned it from this company. Uh I started in this company as an assistant front office manager in 2006. And today I'm running the show in 2024. Our owner invested on me. I have a CEO who's also looking after me. Uh I got uh e-cornel courses, revenue management, full course for two years, and I full uh hospitality management master's degree for two years as well. So I learned it from them how I can keep the employment, how I can upgrade our management. Therefore, I start to have uh uh 10 to 15 senior management from each hotel, uh looking after them, uh uh also offering them equal courses in terms of online courses uh wherever it's needed. Um we uh we selected few uh uh good uh employment in terms of supervisor level and assistant department heads in order to start looking after their weaknesses and provide the right courses for them to move them forward to to being a department heads. So I have a lot of cases uh who is starting as an operator. Today he is a front office manager of height. I have uh uh a supervisor at the desk who is also now uh as an EEM for one of our hotels, uh food and beverage supervisor, being now a food and beverage manager, uh a restaurant manager who is now a hotel manager, so we really look after them in all in terms of which training courses you need. Um for us, uh Boston this year was a plus that for me also to have the knowledge, uh where I can start now looking after the new management of the hotels to do the same what we did. So uh, you know, it's usually uh life is a learning course. So we we learn, we start giving our uh our team the same what we did. So for us, uh our goal now next year is that we have a pool of people from the management having the same uh courses which we did. Uh we have still uh a group uh working now in e-cornell online. They will finish by 2027. So they have two years and a half only concentrated. So this is the only way that you can uh retain uh the people and ensuring that they are continuing success with you. And always every every employer or every uh senior management is looking for his second step. So if he feels comfortable that he will reach it by learning, then he continue working with you.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

That is excellent. Continuous investment in education and development of the staff is is critical to the success of any company. Okay, so what I want to do is want to have a little bit of a fun to wrap things up. So I'm gonna ask you some quick questions and you can take turns answering, but let's start with Mario. Um I know that you just landed um today morning. And so um when you do get a little bit of time, what is one thing that you have been wanting to do in Boston? What is the first thing you'll do in your free time?

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Oh um, well, as I discussed with Tarek this morning, we need to go for a lobster somewhere. Okay. I definitely would like to have a good Atlantic lobster.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Excellent. And I know um, Tarek, you came in yesterday. So what was what did you do the first thing?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

I uh I just took an uh I took a car and just uh to walk in the street. I need to, I like when whenever I reach a country, just to walk in downtown. I asked, where is downtown? Uh they said, Boston. Uh it's a small city, you just go and walk. And I felt very well. I didn't really, the time was flying. I was just walking for four hours, left and right, going around. I looked to the churches, how they look, urban designs, how the city is clean, how the people is happy. Um I was really enjoying by by even having one ice cream. I was just like having fun by by walking, looking to the people and looking to such nice buildings. Uh still I have four or five days to continue to understand more. Especially that I'm coming from New York. So it's totally different.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

It's very different, yeah.

Favorite Sports: Kiteboarding and Football

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Totally different.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yeah, much better. Um walking is always good, and if you can pair up walking with ice cream, there's nothing to beat that. Um, what's your favorite sport, Mario?

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Um I would say kiteboarding, although I love all types of sports. But kiteboarding right now is my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Kiteboarding. Explain that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

It's like, you know, like uh surfing.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Surfing, okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

But not uh windsurfing, actually. Oh winds. But it's it's a new type of windsurfing. I started that when I was working in Turks and Caicos 20 years ago. And basically what you have is you have a kite and then you have a surfboard on your feet, and you steer the kite in the wind, and then it you know it drags you around.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Sounds very exciting.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

No, no, it's excellent. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Okay. I'll be happy watching it. I'm gonna let you do it. Tariq, how about you, I'm assuming?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Is it kite surfing by any chance? Swimming. Swimming, swimming and swimming, okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Swimming and football. Football, I I love I love football and watching football.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

So Yeah, by football you mean soccer, as we say in the US, right?

Top Three Must-See Places in Egypt Beyond the Pyramids

SPEAKER_01 32:52

We have our famous Muhammad Salah, so we he he makes us so excited to watch more. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

So, Tariq, what are the top three places a first-time visitor to Egypt should do? Probably we should skip uh the pyramids because we all know the pyramids. Other than pyramids, what are the other things to do in Egypt?

Hidden Gems: The Serapeum, Fayum Desert, and Fossilized Whales

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Uh in Egypt or in Cairo? Because in Egypt. Either way. Either way, he uh for me, any anyone he needs to to come and stay. He needs to see Luxur, Aswan. Cairo, he needs to see the museums. I'm talking about Luxor and Oswan because really it's quite a lot of temples, a lot, a lot of culture, which if somebody liked it. And Cairo Pyramids Great Museum, Hanal Khalili, it's an enjoyable place. While you are really see the old town, while you are passing by, you will really enjoy it. This is one of the iconic uh uh for for me. If if somebody is in Horgada as a client, I'm trying to bring the repeaters now to Cairo, I'm trying to make for them an offer that they just need to come and see such nice places.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Mario, do you want to change any of these?

SPEAKER_03 34:05

No, I agree 100% with Tarek. I can add a lot. Being not Egyptian, to be honest, I'm I'm still amazed by the sites that this country has to offer, and they're finding more and more every day. Uh so when you go to the pyramids, uh you need that everybody thinks there's only three. There's almost a hundred there. So there's also the red pyramid, there's the black pyramid, there's the saqara. Next to Saqqara pyramid is the Serapeum, which is really unknown, but it's absolutely stunning. It's a cave with huge sarcophagus in there. And the they thought that they put bulls in there back then and buried them, but they are as big as this podcast. And the the detail, how they were made, that they are actually airtight, is absolutely stunning. There's the Fayum Desert, uh the lakes, which are stunning, like blue water in the middle of the desert with fish and you know palm trees around it. There is next to that, there is a museum, an open-air museum, where you can see fossilized prehistoric dinosaurs, sea creatures. They are just there in the desert, they lie there. You've never seen anything like this. It's huge fossilized whales, but they were like, you know, more dinosaur whales. And they're just there in the middle of the desert. Ooh, and so much more. I mean, you could you would never stop. Okay. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Unfortunately, was with what Mario said, and it's a good thing that Mario is an expert. We only have 15 million tourists in last year. We are aiming to double the numbers by and this is a government uh view, and this is the role of the Ministry of Tourism uh by end of uh 2020 2030, after opening the new museum, to double the numbers because we really have a lot to be seen. And uh still uh we we need more. We we we are looking now, we are building a lot of hotels. All owners nowadays are building really out of you are coming now every year like 50 hotels new. So the room inventory is coming up, and we are looking for doubling the numbers, which is will support us a lot.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Yeah, that's gonna need a whole lot of infrastructure, development, airports and roads and other services, and like you mentioned, hotels and restaurants.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Yes, we are doing that nowadays, really with the new vision of the government in terms of infrastructure and roads, and now with the new hotels coming up, with the new museum coming up, we are uh we are feeling that we can do it easily. But uh uh we will see uh the numbers getting by closing 2024. We see first uh how did we close the year, and then we aim for the next year's.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

But also the Ministry of Antiquities is working with UNESCO to redo what I mentioned already, the Khanel Khalili, which is like it this this should be something like Venice, for example. It's a benchmark for Khanel Khalili for the old town of historic Cairo. It's absolutely amazing when you walk through that and the history that is there, the old buildings. I mean, once they rejuvenate this area and make it accessible for tourists to actually be walkable, like Venice, it will hugely lift up Cairo again as a tourist destination.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Great. So it's been fantastic having both of you, and I've learned so much about Al DAO's commitment to both Egypt's future and the hospitality industry. Thank you again for joining us on the Distinguished Podcast. We look forward to seeing Al DAO's continued success both in Egypt and internationally.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Thank you very much for the time.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Uh we really have the pleasure to have you to be here today.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure being here.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

So if you want to join the conversation and share your thoughts and suggestions, email me at sharkin at bu.edu. Special thanks to the team who produces this podcast, producer Mara Littman, editor and sound engineer Andy Halleck, Director of the BU School of Hospitality Realistic Program, Kashik Burdharajan, and the entire team at Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. To keep up with the Distinguished Podcast, be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. You can also learn more about experience innovation in our undergraduate and graduate programs by visiting pu.edu slash hospitality. Have a great day.