tourists this year by 45 per cent to 60 per cent.


In April this year some 525,000 tourists entered the country which was more than double than in the month of January and an increase from the 200,000 per month at the end of last year.


Te occupancy rate in Sharm el Sheikh was around 40 per cent in June this year and looks set to increase. Te Ministry of Tourism says all tourism workers in South Sinai and the Red Sea have been vaccinated and they have full precautionary measures in place.


2018 and up to 20 million visitors and earnings of US$30bn by 2020.


In 2019 Egypt received 13.1 million tourists generating revenues of US$13.03bn. Of course, Covid then arrived and this positive growth dropped in 2020 by about 70 per cent to US$4bn in revenues with just 3.5 million tourists entering the country. It is predicted that it could take between two and four years to return to 2019 levels.


Te first half of 2021 saw tourism revenues at around $3.5bn/$4bn with 3.5 million tourists between January and June. Te ministry is however expecting an increase in the number of


Since the beginning of the pandemic Egypt has reported a total of 284,000 deaths (end July 2021) with over 16,500 deaths.


Egypt re-opened its borders to foreign tourists in July last year after closing down in March and visitors have to produce a negative PCR test. Meanwhile Russia resumed flights to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts earlier this year after lifting a flight ban between Moscow and Egypt, which was put in place after the 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh killing all 224 people on board.


In 2019 Te Ministry of Tourism unveiled a new


Hospitality Criteria program for Egyptian hotels to push for more eco-friendly options and sanitation and health criteria.


Egypt’s real GDP growth projection for FY2021/22 is around 4.5 per cent whilst growth for FY2020/21 is predicted to be around 2.3 per cent.


CASINO SECTOR


Egypt has a huge history in gambling and apart from building a magnificent civilisation they were also pioneers in the leisure and recreation industry. Board games were a popular past time, and the game of Senet is an ancient Egyptian board game which was mostly played mainly by wealthy adults. Te Ouija board also originated in Egypt and it is not hard to find gambling machines which have themes based on ancient Egypt.


Since Egypt is a Muslim country it follows the Sharia law which determines any act of gambling illegal. Around 90 per cent of the population are practising Muslims. However, with a huge tourism trade the country tries to balance its anti-gambling stance by permitting certain activities to cater to the tourism demands.


WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P59


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