Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding (TMG), has been named the top Egyptian leader in Forbes Middle East’s “Top 100 Travel & Tourism Leaders 2025” list for the fourth consecutive year.
Hisham Talaat Moustafa advanced three places from last year to rank 12th regionally among the most influential names in the sector.
Forbes attributed the ranking to Moustafa’s more than 40-year career leading TMG, which currently manages over 5,000 hotel rooms across 11 operational hotels, with five more under development. The group’s land bank stands at 125.9 million square metres in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Iraq.
TMG recorded cumulative sales of $6.9bn in the first quarter of 2025, and its hotel sector revenues rose by 50% to $69m, accounting for 37% of the group’s total revenues of $186m. In May 2025, the group signed a strategic agreement with Oman’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning to develop two real estate projects, reinforcing its regional presence.
The Forbes Middle East ranking methodology included criteria such as the size of the company’s business, the number of hotels and rooms, revenues, investment and asset value, and regional presence. It also considered economic impact, asset ownership, the CEO’s influence, and significant achievements and initiatives during 2024 and 2025.
Hisham Talaat Moustafa has led a significant transformation in the Egyptian tourism sector, notably through the acquisition by TMG’s hospitality arm, ICON, of a 51% stake in Legacy Hotels and Tourism Projects. Legacy owns seven historic hotels, including the Marriott Mena House in Cairo, the Sofitel Winter Palace in Luxor, and the Old Cataract in Aswan. This acquisition boosted the group’s dollar-denominated income and facilitated new investments in these properties.
TMG has also enhanced the standard of hospitality in Egypt through partnerships with international brands like Four Seasons and Kempinski. This has helped to raise hotel room rates in Egypt and attract a new segment of high-spending tourists, contributing to the country’s position as a leading luxury tourism destination in the region.
