(4 minutes read)
· Egypt will prioritize vaccination to its tourism workers to give a fillip to the sector’s recovery
· As a sequel to that, the country is on track to announce full inoculation of people working in two resort areas this month
· Importantly in April this year 500,000 tourists, more than double the number in January visited the country
· Incidentally, that was a significant increase from just 200,000 tourists a month in the second half of last year
Egypt will prioritize vaccination of its tourism workers to give a fillip to the sector’s recovery. As a sequel to that the country is on track to announce full inoculation of people working in two resort areas this month, according to its tourism minister Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Enani. Egypt’s tourism industry is still facing the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, though some green shoots of recovery is noticeable in the recent past with more visitors heading to resorts along the Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts.
In this month itself, the country is gearing up to announce the complete vaccination of Egyptian workers in hotels, resorts, businesses and restaurants in South Sinai and the Red Sea. The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a travel industry conference in Dubai. Significantly, about 65 percent of tourists in Egypt head to those coastal destinations. The drill will follow in other destinations like Luxor, Aswan and the capital Cairo, home of the Giza pyramids and major museums.
Egypt has administered some one million doses. It has a population of approximately 100 million, Of which, closer to two million people work in the tourism and related sectors. Segments that attract heavy flow of tourists are now experiencing heavy losses, which can be made good only by bringing back tourism to its pristine glory.
Importantly in April this year 500,000 tourists, more than double the number in January visited the country. Incidentally, that was a significant increase from just 200,000 tourists a month in the second half of last year. The government authorities feel that the numbers will increase again in the near future with the opening of some countries and the easing of restrictions, including Arab countries, Europe and Russia.
Egypt’s tourism sector took a major hit in 2011 uprising, political unrest and jihadist attacks. The industry recorded a rebound of nearly US$13 billion in revenues for 2018-2019. It was again hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. The drop in the number of tourists was more than 20 percent for mid-2019 to mid-2020. Since then, the country has announced several major new archaeological discoveries, hoping to revive a sector. The North African country reopened to foreign tourists in July last year after having closed its borders in March. Visitors are required to produce a negative PCR test. Russia earlier this year had resumed flights to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts after the lifting of a flight ban.
