As part of its post Covid-19 recovery programme, Egypt is ramping up efforts to attract more tourists as many countries open up their airspace for international flights. To this end, Egypt expects more than one million Russian tourists in 2021 as direct flights between the two countries, including the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, are expected to resume in the following weeks according to the Egyptian deputy tourism minister. Ghada Shalaby said that in 2021, Egypt is set to receive 50 percent of the number of tourists it had in 2019 after the number plummeted by 70 percent in 2020 following the outbreak of Covid-19.

It could be recalled that the number of visitors coming to Egypt dropped to 3.5 million in 2020 from 13.1 million in 2019, according to Reuters. The country, which depends on tourism as a main source of income, is aiming for tourism revenues of $6 billion-$7 billion this year, Shalaby added. It took Russian almost six years to resume direct flights to the popular Red Sea resorts after a Russian plane crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry