When we look back on this year, on this long and ridiculous year we call 2020, it might be helpful to think of it in periods. Like, January to March? That's clearly BC - Before Coronavirus. A happier time, when all we had to worry about were the sniffles that came with the common cold. When things were, from a certain point of view, normal. And when that normalcy extended to our tourism. During this period, the Ministry of Tourism reported that Egypt received 2 million tourists, an optimistic number considering it wasn't even summer yet.

But as it's done for so many of us, that optimism was crushed by the onset of the Coronavirus between March 1st and March 16th. During this couple of weeks, Egypt received 398,300 tourists, even though international airports around the world were starting to close down as the reach of the virus became more apparent. Then after March 16th came a period of touristic drought, when international travel at Egyptian airports locked down entirely except to help some expats return home. A necessary measure, but a difficult one nonetheless.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is reporting that between July and November, Egypt received 1 million tourists. This is a number that carries a lot of mixed emotions. On the one hand, it’s definitely smaller than what we had in the beginning of the year. But on the other hand, with everything surrounding the Coronavirus, one wonders how big that number *should* be. It’s not an easy question to answer, but there is some context to consider: Inbound flights were only allowed to come in three governorates - Red Sea, Sinai and Matrouh - after ensuring a minimal risk of viral spread until early September, when Luxor and Aswan were added to the pool.