Cairo: The Foreign Ministry in Cairo said in a statement that Egypt welcomed Russia’s decision to lift a ban on charter flights to the African country’s Red Sea resorts after nearly six years of suspension. “Egypt expresses its aspiration for an early return of Russian tourism to Egyptian resorts, which will enhance bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector,” Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
This ban was issued in November 2015. Days after a Russian plane crashed on the Sinai Peninsula, 224 people were killed. In a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, this ban was revoked.
Prior to Thursday’s decision, only regular Russian flights to Cairo and official flights to Egypt were allowed.
The Russian flight suspension greatly affected the tourism industry in Egypt, as Russia used to be a top source of tourists to Egypt’s popular Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.
Before the 2015 crash, Russian tourists accounted for about 40 percent of all foreign visitors to Egypt, arriving mostly by chartered flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.
The resumption of chartered flights comes at a time when Egypt’s vital tourism sector is slowly recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government this week allowed hotels across the country to operate at 50 per cent to 70 per cent of their capacity.
Egypt welcomed 13 million tourists in 2019, earning $1301 million a year before the pandemic struck.
Last year, its revenue from the sector fell to $400 million.
The tourism industry, which typically accounts for about 15 percent of Egypt’s GDP, generated a treasury of about $400 million during the first half of 2021.
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