Vice Minister of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt, Ghada Shalaby, affrimed that "the revenues of the tourism sector amounted to between 3.5 and 4 billion dollars in the first half of this year, while the number of tourists received by the country was about 3.5 million."
Tourism revenues amounted to about 4 billion dollars at the end of 2020, a decrease of 70 percent from 13.03 billion in the previous year, due to the “Covid-19” pandemic, which severely damaged the tourism sector.
Minister Shalaby expected an increase in tourists during the coming period between 45 and 60 percent, compared to last year, revealing that the average spending of a tourist per night is about $95.
Tourism in Egypt contributes up to 15 percent of the economic output and is a major source of foreign exchange. It is worth noting that Egypt closed the hotels earlier in March of 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, and then reopened them after about two months with about 25 percent of the capacity, and this percentage later increased to 50 percent.
The country experienced a tourism boom in 2019 before it plunged into crisis like the rest of the world due to the epidemic, as the sector lost about 60 percent of its revenues last year.
Source (Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Adapted)
