Nouran Seifelnasr Mahmoud

Tourism Policy Lead
Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi

Nouran is a seasoned public policy expert with over 12 years of professional regional experience in economic development and policymaking. Diversified sector experience obtained from working as an economic policy consultant to numerous Government entities across the GCC, followed by her current role leading tourism policy development and reform in the Government of Abu Dhabi. Apr 2018 – Present Head of Tourism Policy • Tourism Sector Management Office • Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi - Evidence-based public policy advisory on a range of policy issues facing the development of the tourism sector in Abu Dhabi, including regulatory reforms, fiscal policy, and designing legal and policy frameworks for new industry sub-sectors; - Extensive stakeholder engagement and consultation to design fit-for-purpose policy tools, incl. private sector, international organizations, consultants, and government entities. Select Projects: • Draft Policy Statement for Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector, defining policy gaps and sector development priorities; • Develop hotel planning policy, using an economic supply and demand optimization model to inform licensing processes; • Develop policy framework to regulate holiday home rentals, incl. farm-stays, and establishing partnerships with key industry stakeholders (e.g. Airbnb); • Draft business cases to policymakers and conduct impact assessments of fiscal policy reforms to enhance competitiveness and introduce investor-friendly fee structures for hotel, events, and alcohol licenses; • Manage the delivery of Abu Dhabi’s Sustainable Tourism Guidelines, incl. building a digital Carbon Calculator to track and manage the carbon footprint of Abu Dhabi’s hotels; • Revamp and update Abu Dhabi’s Hotel Classification Standards.