“A discount of 50 percent upon entry on tickets for Egyptians and foreigners to archeological sites and museums in Upper Egypt – from Beni Suef to Aswan including the New Valley and Fayoum from June to August 2022,” the ministry said.

On Thursday, Egypt announced lifting all COVID-related entry restrictions for all travellers, whether Egyptians or foreigners. 

Earlier this month, the Egyptian cabinet's media centre posted a video, the first part in a series named “Egypt… From here the journey begins”. The series aims to promote Egypt as one of the “world's favourite tourist destinations.”

The six-minute video reviews the most prominent plans and mechanisms that Egypt implements to regain its status as one of the world’s preferred tourist destinations.

Egypt’s measures and initiatives come during a time when its tourism sector is struggling to recover from the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, as the country heavily relies on visitors from both countries.

In the second half of 2021, Egypt’s tourism sector picked up momentum thanks to the return of Russian tourists to Sinai in August and high-profile events such as the glitzy Pharaohs’ Golden Parade in Cairo in April and the opening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor in late November.

In the first six months of 2021, 3.5 million tourists visited Egypt, with revenues reaching $3.5 to $4 billion. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, this is almost equal to revenues in 2020 when the sector had begun recovering following setbacks by COVID-19.

In April, UK’s Daily Mail news website selected Egypt as one of the best touristic destinations for spring and summer 2022, coming in second place on a list of top holiday destinations.

In the same month, Tripadvisor, the world's largest travel guidance platform, named Cairo the “second most trending destination in the world and the ninth-best destination for city lovers in 2022”.