France decides to ease Travel Warnings to Egypt

The crisis management centre at the French foreign ministry eased travel warnings on Thursday to tourists wishing to visit Egypt, a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry stated.

The move comes in light of efforts to recover the tourism industry in Egypt after three years of political turmoil and ongoing militant attacks which have dealt the sector a series of blows.

The French ministry has allowed tourists to visit Luxor city in Upper Egypt and Taba city, a resort on the red sea in South Sinai.

“The aim of the changes are to reaffirm that appropriate security conditions in Egyptian cities exist,” the Egyptian foreign ministry statement read.

Several European countries including Germany, Italy, Ireland, Denmark and Spain lifted their travel bans to Egypt during the end of 2014.

Egypt received over 14.7 million tourists in 2010. Though since the 2011 uprising, the number of visitors dropped to 9.8 million. In 2012, the number of tourists rose to 11.5 million but fell again in 2013 to 9.5 million with revenues of $5.9 billion.

Source: Reuters