Sharm El-Sheikh – Wikimedia Commons
CAIRO – 26 August 2017: The governments of Egypt and Britain are reportedly exerting intensive efforts to lift the UK ban on flights to the Red sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, local press reports said on Saturday.
The UK has banned flights to the popular tourist destination following the downing of a Russian airliner over Sinai in October 2015.
The tourism sector in Egypt has communicated with tour operators in Britain to pressure the UK government to lift the travel ban ahead of the World Travel Market London, slated for November.
The World Travel Market London is a leading global event for the travel industry that brings companies, travel professionals, key industry buyers and tourism ministers together.
Investors in the Egyptian tourism industry have been discussing whether or not Egypt should participate in the event.
While some investors saw that Egypt should not participate as the UK ban is still in place, others saw the importance of retaining Egypt’s place at the event.
Tourism investors have been wondering why the UK has not yet lifted the ban on flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, especially that it lifted the ban it imposed on Tunisia following the deadly beach attack that killed 38 people in 2015.
The British government is reportedly being pressured by British tour operators due to the big losses they are incurring as a result of the continued travel ban to Sharm El-Sheikh.
Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed said that intensive efforts are being exerted to lift the UK travel ban on the Red sea city.
Tourism in Egypt has been picking up in 2017. According to the Central Agency for Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of tourists visiting Egypt in the first quarter of 2017 reached 1.73 million, a 51.1 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2016.
Egypt’s tourism sector is one of the country’s main foreign currency earners, but it has been struggling after the political and economic turmoil following the 25 January Revolution in 2011.
Comments
Leave a Comment