Ukraine’s ambassador comments on opening consulates in resort towns of Egypt

As Ambassador of Ukraine to Egypt Yevhen Mykytenko said in a comment to Ukrinform, a record number of Ukrainian tourists — 1 million 500 thousand people — were on holiday in Egypt in pre-COVID year 2019, being second only to tourists from Germany. In 2020, when Egypt reopened its resorts on July 1 after the restrictions imposed in March, Ukraine ranked first for the number of tourists in this country as 727,100 Ukrainians took rest there.

"Speaking about this year, about 10,000 Ukrainian tourists come to Egypt every week, according to our data, and local tour operators predict a further increase in the flow of tourists from Ukraine. There are two main resort towns where our tourists rest: Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. We have already asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish a consulate of Ukraine in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. It seems to me that opening Ukrainian consulates in these two resort towns is an urgent need," Mykytenko said.

He added that this would require a "small sum of money" but the presence of a Ukrainian consul, given the constant stay of a large number of Ukrainians in Egypt almost equaling the population of a small town, would allow for closer contacts with the airport, hospitals and police.

"It is very important for us to have our official there because, unfortunately, the institute of honorary consulate in Egypt is not very developed… I hope that we will be able to open at least one consulate of Ukraine this year, starting with Hurghada because it "covers" many resorts — El Gouna and Marsa Alam — which are very popular among Ukrainians," the ambassador said.

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