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Egyptian minister says tourism losses could reach $280 million a month

November 12, 2015 at 12:35 pm

Egyptian minister says tourism losses could reach $280 million a month

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaazou, said on Wednesday that the country could lose $281 million a month as a result of the decision made by Britain and Russia to suspend flights to Sharm El-Shaikh following the Sinai plane crash last month. A bomb is believed to have brought the Russian aircraft down, killing all 224 people on board.

Zaazou said that Russian and British tourists constitute two thirds of those normally in Sharm El-Shaikh and half of those who go to Hurghada. The two cities are the key Red Sea tourist resorts for attracting overseas visitors.

The minister said that he plans to launch a $5 million campaign in Britain and Russia to promote Egyptian tourism in response to what he described as the “negative” impact of Western media coverage of the Sinai crash.

A senior Russian official ruled out the possibility of Moscow reversing its decision in the near future. The Russian news agency quoted President Vladimir Putin’s chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov as saying that the ban is likely to remain in force for a long time. He added that security arrangements should be improved across Egypt, especially Hurghada and Cairo airports and in areas over which Russian planes fly.

According to Zaazou, the Egyptian government is trying to make up for its losses by encouraging domestic and Arab tourism and facilitating visits by tourists from North Africa.