UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili arrived in Cairo in his first visit following the return of international air flights in July, heading a delegation containing UNWTO officials to inspect coronavirus measures in Hurghada’s hotels, museums, and maritime activities.

Zurab Pololikashvili tweeted that Egypt is ready to restart tourism.

Minister of Tourism Khalid Anany accompanied Pololikashvili to hold bilateral conversations and meetings with tourist investor, with the two set to tour museums, archeolgical sites and tourist locations nationwide.

Anany hailed the UNWTO’s efforts to reduce the impact of the coronavirus on global tourism, in addition to launching initiatives to combat plastic waste and holding competitions in regards to finding coronavirus recovery solutions.

Pololikashvili invited Anany to attend the 122nd meeting of the UNWTO’s executive council, held in September in Georgia to discuss global tourism trends during the pandemic and reports from the Competitiveness and Sustainable Tourism Committees.
The meeting will include the participation of tourism ministries from around the world.

The tourism sector in Egypt, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, has been gradually reopening over the past few months.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism announced the resumption of tourism on May 4, with tourist sites and hotels operating at 25 percent capacity.

The maximum operational capacity was increased to 50 percent on June 1.

Tourism experts have estimated that Egypt’s tourism sector lost one billion US dollars per month due to the pandemic.