tourism sector - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

Egypt moves to shore up tourism sector in shadow of Gaza war

EGYPT is offering incentives to shore up its tourism industry in southern Sinai on the Red Sea, with fallout from the conflict in the Gaza Strip so far contained to under 10% of bookings in the country, the Egyptian tourism minister said on Monday. Tourism, a key source of scarce foreign currency for Egypt, was on track to earn more than $13 billion this year and hit a target of 15 million visitors, despite some delayed reservations for the end of the year, Ahmed Issa said in an interview. Ratings firm S&P Global warned on Monday that a fall in…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

No cruise ship cheer for Cape Town tourism amid Omicron alarm

NEWS

WENDELL ROELF THE docking of the Europa passenger liner in Cape Town on Tuesday was meant to be a ribbon-cutting celebration marking the official start of the cruise ship season in South Africa's top tourist hub, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But international travel curbs on southern Africa, where the new Omicron coronavirus variant was first identified, have blown expectations of a bumper tourist season out of the water. The multi-storey, white luxury liner is the first to dock at Cape Town since South Africa imposed a total ban on all cruise ships entering local ports in March…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa needs fairness and vaccines to revive its tourism sector – minister

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI AFRICAN countries need to get equal access to COVID-19 vaccines so they can start rebuilding their devastated tourism industries, Kenya's tourism minister said on Friday. About 21 million jobs have been lost in the sector across the continent since the start of the pandemic, Najib Balala said on the sidelines of a meeting of his African counterparts, called by the United Nations to discuss the crisis. "Without the vaccination of hospitality workers, Africa will be isolated," he said. Africa has essentially had to pause its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines because of supply problems - and only 18 million…