43k Tourists Arrive In Egypt’s Hurghada Over Eid Holiday

Forty-three thousand tourists arrived at Hurghada Airport during the Eid holiday, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The tourists came on 240 flights from various European countries, including the Czech Republic, Serbia, Belgium, Poland and Italy.

Hurghada is one of Egypt’s top Red Sea resorts. However, it has seen a decline in visitors since the 2011 uprising that has led to political and civil unrest.

Egypt’s tourism revenue dropped by 24.7 percent to around $3 billion in the first half of 2014 according to a tourism ministry statement in August, a 25 percent drop from the same period a year earlier.

However, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said on 15 September that he expects tourism to recover by the end of 2015.

The country’s tourism revenue once peaked at $12.5 billion a year. However, they have been dwindling to less than half of that amid rising political upheaval and unstable security.

The tourism sector suffered another blow in February when a coach carrying Korean tourists was bombed by Islamist extremists.

Source : Ahram online