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Egypt expected to lose $5bn in tourism revenues

April 15, 2020 at 11:04 am

A roast-nut peddlar stands by his cart in an alley assorted with souvenirs for sale, including ouds, tambourines, walking canes, figurines, miniature pyramids, and magnets, at a tourist bazaar in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, about 650 kilometres (400) miles south of the capital Cairo, on 30 January, 2019 [MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images]

Egypt is expected to lose $5 billion in tourism revenues this year as the country reels from the effects of coronavirus.

It was expected that the north African country’s tourist industry would make $16 billion in 2020 but this has been revised to $11 billion, according to Minister of Planning Hala El-Said.

As part of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus Egypt has halted international air traffic and implemented a night-time curfew across the country and shut down the tourist hot spot of South Sinai.

Schools, mosques, churches, archaeological sites, restaurants, malls, and gyms have all been shuttered.

Egypt’s tourist industry has only just begun to recover after it took its first hit during the 2011 Egyptian uprising when tourists steered clear of the unrest.

Following this, the 2015 bombing of a Russian flight over the Sinai Peninsula, which killed 224 people, led to the halting of Russian flights to the country and a further stalling of the tourist industry.

READ: Egypt sends medical gowns to UK as its own doctors reel from shortages

In 2016 tourist numbers plunged to 5.4 million from 14.7 million in 2010.

The government’s appalling record on human rights abuses has also kept tourists away.

Official estimates say some three million tourist workers will suffer from the COVID-19 shutdown.

The government was criticised for dragging its feet to shut the country down, still allowing tourists to visit tourist sites up until mid-March for fear of the loss of revenue.

Authorities were thought to be massively underreporting the number of confirmed cases so as not to scare people away.

By 18 March, 45 people were confirmed to have the virus, contracted on board a Nile cruise ship, and six people had died.

Flights were suspended on that day.

Tourist workers have complained that the government has not compensated them for their loss of revenue.