Tourism workers vaccinated in Red Sea and South Sinai

The Egyptian Minister of Health announced on Thursday the completion of the COVID-19 vaccination program to all tourism workers in the Red Sea and South Sinai governorates.

In a news conference held in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada, Hala Zayed added that by June 30 both residents and workers in both governorates should "hopefully" all vaccinated.

The announcement comes as part of the government's promotion of Egypt's most attractive coastal destinations.

The conference was attended by Egypt's Ministers of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled el-Enany, Civil Aviation minister Mohamed Manar and Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi.

El-Enany stated that the industry is recovering and there is a noticeable increase in tourists numbers.

"Since the beginning of 2021 the industry is recovering in Egypt, we started the year, January with 300,000 tourists per month, we ended last April with 525,000 tourists per month, this represents around 50% of our numbers before the pandemic," he said.

The country's economy depends heavily on tourism, which accounts for some 12% of the gross domestic product.

Egypt's government has for years struggled to revive the vital tourism sector battered by years of instability following the 2011 uprising the toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and most recently the coronavirus pandemic.

Egypt's prime minister said on Wednesday that the government aims to vaccinate at least 40% of the country's population against the coronavirus by the end of this year.

Egypt has reported more than 264,557 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 15,178 deaths.

The actual number of COVID-19 cases, like elsewhere in the world, is thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing.