Average monthly tourism revenues for 2020 have declined 85-92%, with tourism bringing in between USD 80 mn and USD 150 mn a month compared to an average of USD 1 bn a month last year, our friend Sandra Farid, an economic advisor to Tourism Minister Khaled El Anany told Al Mal. Travel restrictions in Western Europe due to covid-19’s second wave has meant that Egypt now depends mostly on tourists from Eastern Europe, Farid said, with Ukrainian tourists making up the bulk of visitors to Egypt since commercial flights resumed in July.

Tourism arrivals to Egypt had dropped 62.3% y-o-y in 1H2020 according to the World Tourism Organization, which also estimated a 90.4% drop in tourism receipts in 2Q2020. Egypt’s tourist arrivals reached a record 13 mn last year before the covid-19 pandemic brought the industry to a halt. The government extended some measures of its tourism industry support program introduced last April till at least January 2021.