Egypt’s tourism revenues likely to fall by $5 billion due to coronavirus – minister

Egypt’s tourism revenues are set to record around $11 billion, down from previous estimates of $16 billion, for the financial year 2019/2020 due to coronavirus crisis, its planning minister said on Monday.

Hala al-Saeed made these remarks during a press conference at the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) headquarters in Cairo to review the implications of the virus outbreak on the Egyptian economy.

Tourism sector, one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency, achieved revenues of $13 billion in 2019, marking a 12 percent increase compared to 2018. It had begun to show signs of recovery after the years of political turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising.

Earlier this month, the International Air Transport Association expected Egypt’s airline industry to face a potential loss in revenue of $1.6 billion and 9.5 million fewer passengers in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Egypt has imposed a night-time curfew, banned large public gatherings, and shut schools and universities in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

The North African country has also halted international flights at all airports since 19 March.