The head of the International Tourism Sector at the Ministry of Tourism Mohamed Abdel Gabbar said the inflow of German tourism for various Egyptian destinations flourished as the number of German flights reached 110 a week. He expressed optimism about the growth of tourism rates coming from traditional markets.
Egypt enjoys the support of the German side, Abdel Gabbar said, adding however that the increase of taxes imposed on German tourists to Egypt affected their inflow.
Abdel Gabbar discussed the effect of taxes on the inflow of German tourists with the head of the Tourism Committee at the German Parliament, Egypt's parliamentary speaker and Egypt's ambassador to Germany.
The chairman of the Tourism Committee at the German Parliament expressed sympathy for Egypt's request for a decrease in the taxes imposed on German tourists coming to Egypt and promised to discuss the issue within the German parliament, as well as the resumption of German flights to South Sinai.
The Egyptian ambassador invited the German official to visit Egypt.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Osman, a member of the tourism marketing committee of Upper Egypt, said that Luxor currently receives four flights a week from Germany; this, in addition to the start of new flights from Madrid to Luxor, as of December 5.
He highlighted the current rise in hotel occupancy rates to 30 percent, compared with 10 percent for the same period last year. The turnout of tourists on Nile cruises is large and there are no more reservations for the New Year celebrations, Osman added.
The map of safe destinations published by the US, including Egypt, has positively affected Egypt's security image.
Egypt recently topped a list of Middle East (ME) countries that are safe for tourism and vacations, according to the US government. Other ME countries deemed safe include Jordan, Oman, UAE and Qatar.
The report comes just in time, as Egypt seeks to attract tourists from Russia and Western Europe in December, one year after the Russian airplane crash that took place in central Sinai in October 2015.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
