Egypt’s Tourism Minister Visits Germany And France

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou visits Germany and France on Sunday as part of his worldwide tour to push for the cancellation of travel warnings on Egypt.

Zaazou is to attend a tourism conference hosted by German Travel magazine FVW which aims to promote travel to Egypt among leading European travel agencies.

Thomas Cook Germany and DER Touristik, two of the largest travel agencies in Germany, declared last week that the situation in Red Sea resorts was calm and that trips would therefore resume as of 30 September, reported Reuters on Friday.

However, other major travel agencies in Germany — such as TUI Travel and Alltours — declared they will continue to follow their government’s advice against travelling to Egypt, Reuters added.

Accompanied by security experts, an official delegation of the Russian Foreign Ministry also arrived to Egypt’s Red Sea governorate on Thursday to verify whether the tourist-friendly southern province was secure.

The delegation’s mission was preceded by Zaazou’s visit to Russia in an effort to persuade Russian officials to lift their travel alerts for Egypt, or to exclude the Red Sea and South Sinai governorates, which he deems safe areas for tourism.

Little over a month ago, a number of countries had announced travel warnings on Egypt when violence erupted in different parts of the country following the 14 August dispersal of two large protest camps demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Ongoing instability had led Japan, the United States and several European countries — including Germany, France and Russia — to warn their citizens against travelling to Egypt.

Source: Ahram