The resumption of charter flights between Russian cities and Egyptian resorts has allowed the Russian Federation to return to the leading position in the Egyptian tourism market, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Anani said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday.
"Since the beginning of this year, the number of foreign tourists in Egypt has gradually increased, the figures have improved significantly in the summer and especially with the beginning of the autumn-winter season," he said, summing up the year. - "Return of Russians is an extremely important addition to this plan". According to the minister, even before the lifting of the ban on charter flights, "the number of Russian tourists coming to Cairo has increased markedly." "This demonstrates the desire of Russians to visit us, and the decision to restore air links with the resorts allowed Russia to quickly regain the position of market number one in Egypt," said Khaled Al-Anani, explaining that the exact numbers of tourists by country will be released by the agency later, at the end of the year.
The interlocutor pointed out that during the pandemic Egyptian authorities are more concerned about the country's reputation in terms of protecting the health of tourists, rather than quantitative data. "That is why we have not yet been able to return most countries to Egyptian resorts and increase the average duration of tourist holidays compared to 2019," he said. - "But in contact with the Russian side, we are doing everything to ensure the most comfortable vacation for those coming from Russia."
Speaking about plans for the next year, the minister told about the preparation of relatively new tourist destinations for the Russian market in addition to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. "We optimistically look at the gradual growth in indicators of Russian tourists," he noted. - "And we aim to increase tourist destinations for Russians by opening [flights to] Taba, Marsa Alam, Luxor, Aswan, and later the Northern (Mediterranean) coast". "We create conditions to combine beach holidays with cultural tourism," the minister explained. - :There are direct flights between Sharm el-Sheikh and Luxor at affordable prices, so tourists can fly to Luxor and return to Sharm el-Sheikh the same day".
"We will continue to develop tourism by working to improve legislation and administrative regulations to encourage investors and simplify licensing procedures for tourism companies," the minister said. - "We also plan to increase the competitiveness of the Egyptian tourism product, developing, among other things, such areas as ecotourism. We are working to preserve Egypt's tourist and archaeological potential for the benefit of future generations".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS