Egypt Cancels New Year's Events

The Ministry of Tourism has asked all tourist and hotel establishments not to hold any (cultural - tourism) events or celebrations during the New Year period that would result in large gatherings of citizens.

Abdel Fattah Al-Assi, Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Monitoring Tourism Facilities said that this decision comes in implementation of the directives of Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, basing on the instructions of the Medical Committee to confront the spread of the Coronavirus, which was held on December 8th.

In the letter that he sent to the tourist and hotel establishments, Al-Assi stressed  the necessity of  applying  the precautionary and preventive measures that were taken during the last period. The letter stated that punitive measures are taken against restaurants, cafes and hotels that do not comply with these measures.

For his part, Hisham Wahba, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Tourism Establishments said that the percentage of customers in restaurants during the New Year will be very weak. He pointed out that there are a number of reasons that will lead to the citizens ’reluctance to spend New Year’s Eve in hotels and tourist restaurants, the most important of which is the continued closure of various theaters.

The wedding halls and nightclubs will still closed and the citizens will fear to go out and being in restaurants or hotels in light of the second wave of the Coronavirus.

The closing times of tourist restaurants, which are set at 1:00 am during the New Year, so the people who were celebrating that occasion until the morning will not be able to go to the tourist facilities and hotels.

He explained that the Chamber has warned all currently operating tourist establishments and restaurants of the need to follow precautionary and preventive measures against the emerging coronavirus (Covid 19), to protect workers and customers at the same time.

He noted that in case of violating these procedures, the closure will be imposed on the facility for a period of 3 days and if it repeated the violation it will be completely closed.