Since the beginning of 2017, 75,000 Russian tourists have visited Egypt, Mostafa Khalil, deputy chairman of the Union of Egyptian Tourist Chambers, announced at a press conference at Interfax's central office on Tuesday.
“There are also Russians who fly to Egypt through other countries. Since the beginning of the year, their number has reached 75,000," he said.
Hisham Al-Domeri, head of the Egyptian Government Authority for Tourism Development, added that this year, the flow of tourists to Egypt from foreign countries increased by 54%.
"This year, we've seen a very noticeable improvement. Compared to January-August last year, we have almost 541+ tourists more than in the same period in 2017. There are 851+ tourists more from Germany, and almost 1,001+ tourists from the UK. Flights from Scandinavia resumed in April, and tourist flow from Eastern Europe is growing. Currently, flights to Egypt are closed only from Russia and the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh," he said.
According to him, Egypt expects to return tourist flow to its usual level of 15 million foreign tourists per year in 2018.
In 2010, before the Arab Spring, Egypt received about 3 million tourists from Russia.
Russia suspended air travel to Egypt in November 2015 following the crash of a Kogalymavia plane over Sinai. The plane, flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, had 217 passengers and seven crew members on board; all were killed. The FSB later classified the incident as a terrorist attack.
In early September of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that air traffic with Egypt would be fully restored soon, provided there was confidence in the safety of flights.
Source: trn-news.ru
