Egypt's Diving Regulator Publishes Complete List of Covid-Safe Operators

Dive and tourist boats in the harbour in Hurghada (Photo: Shutterstock)

DIVE Report

Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS), the regulatory body which oversees all of the nation's recreational water-based tourist activities, has published a complete list of operators meeting the country's strict Covid-19 operating standards.

The standards were issued in June as part of Egypt's plan to restart tourist operations after the first lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Hotels were required to meet stringent health and safety requirements including limited operating capacities and the provision of onsite quarantine and medical facilities.

Covid-19 guidelines as published on the CDWS website

Dive centres, liveaboards and other operators are able to operate at limited capacities and required to implement measures which include social distancing, mask-wearing, sterilisation of dive equipment after each use and ensuring the availability of hand sanitiser at all times.

Egypt, which was voted into second place in the 2020 DIVE Travel Awards, is open for business but hampered by lockdown measures implemented by other countries. At the time of writing (24 November), 508 operators across Egypt's tourist resorts have received CDWS certification. Egpyt has, to date, recorded 113,381 cases of Covid-19 with 6,560 deaths.

The complete list of certified operators is available from the CDWS website at www.cdws.travel/info/quality-assurance/covid19-precautionary-measures.