The country began welcoming international tourists back into the country from July. However speaking at WTM London Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities Khaled el-Enani said while there were more than 1,200 hotels in Egypt, only around 870 had been allowed to re-open.
“These are the only properties we allowed to resume that we awarded with our hygiene safety certificate.”
El-Enani added that “any hotels who don’t respect our hygiene certificate are closed the same day”, while he said facemasks were obligatory and all hotel staff have to be vaccinated.
The number of international tourists visiting the country has doubled in the last two months, which El-Enani said was evidence of other countries’ confidence in the safety of Egypt.
Meanwhile he said Egypt operates a strict policy for any tourist who falls ill with Covid while on holiday in the country. “If any tourist shows any symptoms, their hotel has to inform the Ministry of Health. If it’s mild, they can stay in the hotel and all costs will be covered.
“If the patient needs to be transferred to hospital then again all expenses will be paid for by the government.”
Elsewhere El-Enani revealed a new flight programme, connecting Sharm el Sheikh to Luxor in 50 minutes, enabling tourists to make day trips to see the Valley of Kings. He added that there was currently one flight per week but that he was confident this would soon be increased.
Elsewhere sustainability and eco-tourism remain one of the country’s key strategies.
Also speaking at the press conference was environmentalist Mohammed Elewa, who said “not going green” was “just not an option any more, especially for Egypt”.
“Around 80% of our international tourists come for the Red Sea. We have more than 325 types of coral reefs, more than 1000 types of fish and more than 500 types of birds.
“We see sustainability as an opportunity rather than a threat,” he added.
