Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khalid Anany on Wednesday turned down demands made by Red Sea hotel and tourist village owners to increase the occupancy limit to 75 percent. According to hotel officials, their establishments receive no returns from the current 50 percent occupancy cap, but they will continue working under this limit until the pandemic passes over. The head of the Chamber of Hotel Facilities Alaa Aqil assured that all establishments granted a certificate will strictly abide by the 50 percent occupancy limit in order to help curb the coronavirus outbreak. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism announced the resumption of tourism on May 4, with tourist sites and hotels operating at 25 percent capacity. Tourism experts have estimated that Egypt’s tourism sector lost one billion US dollars per month due to the pandemic.

Source: Egypt Independent September 23, 2020 11:48 UTC