Egypt seeks to attract 2 million Russian tourists in 2018

Egypt is likely to attract up to two million Russian tourists this year as Russian flights to Cairo will be resumed early February, a top official at Egypt’s tourism ministry said.

The return of Russian tourism in Egypt will highly serve the tourism sector, the official highlighted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorised commercial flights between Egypt and Russia to resume following a two-year suspension, in a move expected to place further pressure on the British government to review their own stance on flights to Egypt.

The Egyptian Minister of Aviation headed to Moscow to sign a protocol with Russian Transportation Minister in order to resume flights to Cairo.

“Aeroflot will be the first commercial Russian flight to land in Egypt since 2015, with a flight scheduled for the beginning of February 2018,” Russian Transportation Minister, Maxim Sokolov, stated.

Russia suspended all flights to Egypt, not just Sharm el-Sheikh, immediately after the Metrojet incident, citing security concerns with the airports.

The Egyptian government has since invested £20 million to raising airport security standards, working a British aviation security firm. All European countries, except for the UK, have now permitted flights to resume.