São Paulo – Workers in 197 tourism industry establishments in Egypt have already gotten government subsidies designed to cushion the major blow from the coronavirus and the ensuing grounding of international flights to and from the country, Egypt Today reported.
The aid went to professionals in 156 hotels, 34 travel agencies, four restaurants and three diving hubs, Egypt Federation of Chambers of Tourism member Wahid Assem said. According to the executive, workers in 1,262 establishments are due to get subsidy over the next few days.
According to Assem, the funds originate from the Labor Emergency Fund and the sums are equal to the workers’ wages registered with the Social Security Authority. The subsidy is wired to the bank accounts indicated in the applications submitted to the Ministry of Manpower. The amounts range from EGP 600, or USD 38 at the current exchange rate, to EGP 1,765 (USD 112). The cost of living in Egypt is much lower than in Brazil.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) made EGP 50 billion, or USD 3.1 billion, in loans available to the tourism industry. Property taxes will not be levied for three months, among other actions taken to cushion the impact of the pandemic.
Egypt is heavily reliant on tourism. Tourism and Antiquities minister Khaled Al-Anani said this week that hotels will operate at 25% capacity at most up until the beginning of July. At that point, hotels will be allowed to work at 50% occupation.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
