The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled al-Anany has said the sector is on the part recovery following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the industry.
Statistics released by the minister revealed the country’s tourism sector lost over $9billion in 2020, while tourist arrivals to the north African country dropped due to the coronavirus pandemic and global travel restrictions.
According to africa.cgtn.com, a total of 3.5 million tourists visited Egypt in 2020 compared to 13.1 million in 2019, according to the Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anany.
“Occupancy of the hotels constituted only 10-15 percent of the percentage in 2019,” said al-Anany, noting that the ministry has signed a contract with a foreign company to draw a strategy for promoting the tourism map in 2021.
The country lost at least one billion dollars for each month during the travel ban, according to the statement.
It predicted the recovery will start in March 2021 but the number will still be less than that in 2019.
The tourism industry, a key pillar of Egypt’s economic revenues and hard currency, had started to show signs of recovery after years of political turmoil since the 2011 uprising that toppled late president Hosni Mubarak.
However, it has suffered a heavy blow with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.