Russia will remain one of the most important markets for Egyptian tourism sector, despite the fact that many other destinations have been actively developing in recent years, Noora Ali, chairwoman of the House of Representatives (Parliament) Committee on Tourism and Air Transportation, expressed this opinion in a talk with TASS on Tuesday.
"Egypt continues to develop tourism and seeks to attract more guests from all corners of the globe," said the deputy. - "During the previous period we were able to open new destinations in different regions, but the Russian market will always remain one of the most important world markets for the Egyptian tourism sector".
On August 9, after a break of almost six years the first flights with tourists arrived from Russia to Egyptian resort towns of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. At this stage, flights are operated from Moscow by EgyptAir and Rossiya airlines, and in the near future it is planned to expand the list of Russian cities, where our compatriots will be able to flight directly to Egyptian resorts. Other carriers are waiting for permission to operate.
Air traffic between Russia and Egypt was completely interrupted in November 2015 after the crash of the plane of the Russian company Kogalymavia flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in Sinai. There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board, all of whom died. The FSB qualified the incident as a terrorist attack.
Largely affected by the two revolutions in 2011 and 2013, the Egyptian tourism sector was on the verge of collapse and had to look for new markets, which would be able to enter in such difficult conditions, as well as to depart from the prevailing concept of beach tourism, offering a wide range of other types of recreation in the country. In recent years, the focus has been on Arab tourists from the Persian Gulf, as well as visitors from Asia, especially China, and domestic tourism. Meanwhile, local officials at various levels and representatives of the tourism industry have repeatedly recognized that the full recovery of the sector will only work after the return of the Russians, who in pre-crisis times could compete with only the British and Germans.
Earlier, the former head of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority Hisham Al-Damiri in a conversation with TASS opined that the return of tourist traffic from Russia to the previous levels, which is more than 3 million people a year, will not happen before 2023.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS