Russian plane - REUTERS
CAIRO – 19 October 2018: Many Russian tourism companies expect that once charter flights to Egyptian resorts are resumed by the end of 2018, Turkey's bookings will decline during the 2019 summer season in April and May, Executive Director at Russian Intourist Travel, Sergei Tulchin, told Russian news agency Sputnik.
Tulchin remarked that resuming charter tours to Egypt will lead to a decline in tourist inflow to several cheap world resorts such as the United Arab Emirates, India, Vietnam, and Thailand.
In the same context, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Wednesday, Oct. 17 during his meeting with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi that flights resume between the two countries, referring that Egypt exerts many efforts to secure air flights.
In October 2015, the Airbus A321, operated by Metrojet, crashed over the Sinai Peninsula, while carrying Russian tourists returning from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 on board.
Although Egypt-Russia investigations have not revealed the reason behind the crash, Russia, along with some other countries, had decided to suspend direct flights to Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh for indefinite period. The decision decimated Egypt's vital tourism industry.
The tourism sector is one of Egypt’s main foreign currency earners,and has suffered badly from the travel ban that turned the once 100 percent occupied resorts to empty buildings.
Tourist inflow to Egypt peaked in 2010, when 14.7 million tourists visited the country, but the number fell to 4.5 million in 2016.
Russian and British tourists capture the largest portion of tourist inflows to Egypt. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the Russian tourist inflow to Egypt reached its peak in 2014, with tourists recording 3.1 million. Following the Russian plane crash, this number plummeted to 2.38 million in 2015.
The British tourist inflow used to range between 800,000 and 1 million tourists, but this number also declined after the suspension of flights to Sharm El-Sheikh. British flights are now limited to the tourist landmarks in the Red Sea and the Upper Egyptian cities of Luxor and Aswan.
Government efforts
During the 26-month air traffic suspension, a lot of false reports about the expected resumption of direct flights between Egypt and Russia were circulated in the media, making Egyptians doubt if this issue will find any end.
Through that period, the Egyptian government spared no effort to settle the case, using all diplomatic capabilities to speed negotiations with the Russian side, as well as other countries that imposed a ban on direct flights to Egypt.
Russian authorities always stressed that the resumption of flights would only be possible after Egypt satisfies all the demands made by Russian experts on ensuring security at domestic airports.
Since the crash, Egypt has been implementing new, tighter security measures at all of its airports to meet the Russian demands for the resumption of flights, with multiple visits by Russian security to behold changes implemented by the government.
During these visits, the Russian side affirmed that Egyptian aviation authorities have made significant progress in complying with Russia’s aviation safety requirements.
On December 11, Russian President Putin visited Cairo for the second time since President Sisi was sworn into office in May 2014. The visit showed increasing interest from Moscow to boost cooperation with Egypt after the bilateral relations have been up and down.
Asked about the return of direct flights to Egypt, Putin said “The Russian security services have reported to me that, on the whole, we are ready for opening the direct air link between Moscow and Cairo ... This would require signing a corresponding intergovernmental protocol.”
On December 15, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi travelled to Moscow and met Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov.
The two ministers signed an air security agreement that set the required procedures to pave the way for resuming Egypt-Russia air traffic.
“The first flight will likely be launched in February,” said Sokolov.
In mid-December 2017, Russia and Egypt signed an agreement on aviation security and a special protocol on restoring air service between the two countries. Russian President Putin signed the decree on resumption of scheduled flights to Cairo on January 4, 2018.
Additional report by Mohamed Abdel Maguid
Comments
Leave a Comment