The number of tourist bookings to Egypt fell by 30 to 50 percent this week as a result of the Russian passenger plane crash in Sinai, Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou has announced.
Zaazou criticized the international media for pre-empting the results of the investigation, adding that Egypt's expected losses over the next three months will reach approximately LE6.6 billion.
A Tourism Ministry analysis on international media and the amount of news circulating on social networking websites showed that 37 percent of the news on the incident attributed the crash to a bomb planted on board the plane, which indicates weak security measures at Egyptian airports.
Statistics
Sharm el-Sheikh received 5.4 million tourists last year, equal to 55 percent of Egypt's 2014 tourists, said the minister. Russian and British tourists make up 66 percent of the Sharm el-Sheikh tourists.
According to Zaazou, European tourists make up 72 percent of Egypt's tourists.
Arab tourists increased by 15 percent last year. The Tourism Ministry aims to attract more tourists from the Maghreb countries and North Africa, Zaazou added.
The minister said he and the Cabinet are currently studying ways of pumping US$5 million into the tourism industry following the fallout from the plane crash that has negatively impacted Egypt in the media. The hope is to promote positive news.
Zaazou added that he has been coordinating with several different sectors, such as the banking sector, to activate domestic tourism to Sharm el-Sheikh through discounted offers.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
