Tourism Establishments Chamber allows Burkini into hotel pools

CAIRO – 23 August 2019: The Chamber of Tourism Establishments has allowed women to wear Burkini into hotel pools and beaches.

Earlier in 2017, Head of the Chamber of Red Sea Hotel Facilities Ali al-Halawany stated that the cancellation of the decision in the first place is a step that should not have been taken.

He clarified that hotels should decide whether to allow Burkini or ban it based on the tourism season and the type of tourists they receive.

Women said that they must be allowed to swim while wearing the Burkini, arguing that the rule requiring men to wear swim briefs and women to wear bikinis or swimsuits is discriminatory.

The first decision was distributed in 2017 by the Hotel Association, saying that the Ministry of Tourism has recently received several complaints from guests who were not allowed wear Burkinis at pools.

The decision added that Burkini should not be banned if its material is the same as the one of an ordinary swimming suit.

However, the decision was canceled again, as each hotel should decide for itself whether to ban or allow it.

Some hotels argue that they fear for the diseases that may be caused by Burkinis that are not made of the same material of ordinary swimming suits.

Officials also argued that the suit makes it impossible to check whether wearers have open wounds or diseases.

In 2016, dozens of French municipalities banned the burkini with the backing of the French government, before a court ruled the action unconstitutional.