Since July 2020, Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada have received around 430,000 tourists, Khaled Al-Anani, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, announced on Thursday.
“We have tourists coming directly to Cairo, and others to Alexandria, Luxor, and Aswan. But the big majority goes directly to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada,” he added.
“We are running now 10% of our numbers, if you compare November 2020 to November 2019 in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurgahda, we will find that we are running only 10% of the tourist numbers,” the Minister said.
“But we are working, and we are not having any negative feedbacks from our tourists or even the countries that are sending tourists to Egypt,” he stressed.
The Minister’s remarks came on Thursday during his speech at the week-long virtual “Egypt’s Green Economy” programme, organised by the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) and the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce (EBCC).
He said that Egypt`s experience for resumption of tourism was very successful.
Egypt suspended international flights at all airports nationwide on 19 March, as part of government efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Inbound tourism flights only resumed on 1 July to three governorates as part of a first stage, namely the Red Sea, South Sinai, and Matrouh governorates. Tourism activities to Luxor and Aswan resumed in early September.
Al-Anani mentioned that 60% of the hotels in Egypt have received the health and safety certificate to reopen after fulfilling regulations outlined by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in this regard. This is in accordance with standards put in place by Egypt’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Al-Anani also mentioned that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has awarded Egypt the Safe Travels stamp. The move follows the WTTC’s recognition, for the health and safety regulations approved by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to resume tourism activities.
