Egypt opens some hotels to restart tourism
Release time:
2020-06-02 00:00
Egypt opens some hotels to restart tourism
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Reporter: Li Binian/Marwa Yahya
Nearly two months after Egypt announced the closure of the hotel, Mohris Malak received a health certificate issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Health, which means that his hotel can finally reopen.
Malak runs a four-star hotel in the egyptian province of kina, more than 500 kilometers south of the capital, cairo. In order to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Health, he installed a disinfection door at the entrance of the hotel, hired a doctor, and took many measures to ensure the distance of customers when eating.
In addition to Malak's hotels, more than 70 hotels in five provinces including the Red Sea, Alexandria and Cairo were reopened this time.
Ala Akele, chairman of the Red Sea Province Hotel Association, a major tourist province, told Xinhua News Agency that there are 252 hotels in the Red Sea Province, of which 83 have applied for health certificates from the Egyptian Ministry of Health, but only 41 have been approved.
Akele said that although some hotels have reopened, public beaches in the Red Sea province will remain closed and beaches in hotels can be reopened after strict precautions are taken. Private yachts can be re-operated, but their licences will be revoked and they will be fined if they violate the anti-epidemic measures.
The reopening of the hotel is a decision taken by the Egyptian government to restart domestic tourism. Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Cultural relics Khalid Anani said on May 3 that some hotels in Egypt will reopen after meeting the relevant conditions.
Anani said that eligible hotels can only open 25% of their rooms before June 1 and 50% after June 1. Hotels must have clinics and doctors, provide personal protective equipment for customers, and prohibit weddings or large gatherings.
In addition, each hotel must designate a floor dedicated to the isolation of confirmed or suspected cases of new crowns. Restaurants are also subject to many restrictions, such as not providing buffets, not providing hookah, eating must keep a certain distance, etc.
Akele said that although the reopening of some hotels in Egypt could stimulate the development of domestic tourism and bring some of the unemployed back to work, domestic tourism revenue could not make up for the loss of tourism caused by the epidemic as international flights in Egypt remained grounded.
"The opening of some hotels is only a pilot project to test whether the Egyptian tourism industry is ready to run again." Akele said.
Tourism is one of Egypt's main sources of income. According to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt in March, Egypt received more than 13 million tourists in 2019, with tourism revenue exceeding US $13 billion.
In the wake of the neo-crown epidemic, the Egyptian Government took a number of measures to control the spread of the epidemic, including curfews, the closure of beaches and hotels, the closure of museums and archaeological sites, and the suspension of all international flights, but these measures have also had a serious impact on Egypt's tourism industry. According to official estimates, Egypt's tourism revenue is expected to decrease by US $5 billion in the 2019-2020 fiscal year (July 2019-June 2020).
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