Pics: Some Egyptian hotels start receiving nationals after meeting safety standards

CAIRO – 22 May 2020: Some hotels in different Egyptian cities were allowed to receive a number of guests, after meeting health and safety standards, in accordance with the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Tourism said in a statement.

As the Egyptian government has planned to gradually re-open domestic tourism amid the coronavirus crisis, these hotels in the northern governorates of Alexandria and Matrouh, as well as the Red Sea governorate, in southeastern Egypt and South Sinai, in the east of the country, have received Egyptian guests. These hotels have been given the Hygiene Safety certificate approved by the ministry.

All of the approved hotels strictly apply the required safety standards, including social distancing and other preventive measures such as sterilizing luggage, monitoring the temperature of the guests, sanitizing hands and sterilizing receptions, lobbies, kitchens, restaurants, swimming pools, beaches and corridors, said Maged Fawzi, head of Egypt’s Chamber of Tourism Establishments.

Joint inspection committees will check the hotels periodically, to ensure safety procedures are applied correctly, Fawzi said.

This comes a week after Abdel Fattah Al-Assi, Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for monitoring tourism facilities, said 10 hotels in the Red Sea and South Sinai governorates have been approved by the Cabinet, after meeting all required conditions amid the coronavirus crisis.



Late in April, the Egyptian Cabinet said it reviews the possibility to allow domestic tourism, amid the coronavirus crisis, based on precautionary measures and studies, the spokesman said. Later, in May, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli announced a bundle of measures as part of the state’s plan to restore normal life.

In a press conference attended by a number of ministers, Madbouli said the world started to move toward plans to "co-exist" with the coronavirus, so the Egyptian state and people have to work on restoring normal life, while taking into consideration some preventive measures.

Few days ago, Minister of Tourism Khaled Al-Anani has checked some of the hotels in the Red Sea governorate and inspected the medical clinics in these hotels, in order to allow them to receive Egyptian guests at a 25 percent capacity.