Over 100,000 tourists have visited the Red Sea resort cities of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh from July up until Tuesday, coming from Belarus, Ukraine, Switzerland, Hungary and Serbia.
The first stage of the return of Egypt’s inbound tourism began early July within South Sinai, the Red Sea and Matrouh.
Many of these flights returned home after enjoying Egypt’s warm sunny weather and picturesque beaches without reporting a single coronavirus case, reflecting the success of Egypt’s measures to combat the virus and protect tourists, citizens and workers in the tourism sector.
Foreign tourism first returned to Egypt on July 4 with a flight from Belarus to Hurghada, following talks between the tourism ministers of Egypt, Belarus and the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association.
Other countries that returned to Egypt include Ukraine and Serbia.
The focus of this first stage is on destinations favored by Belarusian tourists, foremost of which are the coastal tourist cities in the Red Sea and South Sinai which are frequented by over 90 percent of Belarusian tourists.
Occupancy rates at Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate hotels and tourist resorts reached 50 percent of total capacity, the maximum set by the Egyptian government for tourism in order to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
More than 100,000 guests stayed at Red Sea Governorate hotels and resorts during the Eid al-Adha holiday, according to employees in the governorate’s tourism sector.
Egypt suspended tourism in March as part of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. Tourism is a vital sector in Egypt, accounting for about 12 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product.
The tourism sector is also one of the economic sectors that has been most severely impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Egypt on Tuesday announced 163 new positive coronavirus cases, in addition to 11 deaths.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health said that 911 people who have recovered from the virus have been discharged from quarantine hospitals on Tuesday, after receiving medical care.
Ministry Spokesperson Khaled Megahed explained that the total number of coronavirus cases recorded in Egypt as of Saturday was 96,753, in addition to 5,184 deaths.
