Egypt’s tourism sector anticipates even leaner times after EgyptAir crash

Global Business

Egypt’s government has promised to bring tourists back after its latest aviation disaster.

The country boasts world famous attractions, but tourism has never properly recovered from the turmoil of two revolutions and a string of aviation disasters in recent months.

CCTV America’s Owen Fairclough reports.

The EgyptAir disaster follows a hijacking of another one of its planes in March, though it ended with everyone aboard released unharmed.

Last year, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian Metrojet flight in the Sinai desert, killing everyone on board. That led to U.K. and Russia banning flights to the Red Sea diving resort of Sharm el-Sheikh over security concerns.

Foreign tourists have been repeatedly targeted; eight Mexicans died in an accidental air strike on their tour group last year, while three Europeans were wounded in attack on their hotel in January.

The impact has been immediate. Tourist revenues plummeted 66 percent in first quarter of the year as the number of visitors nearly halved.

“The efforts that we need to put, may be 10 times as we’ve planned to put in place, but we need to focus on our ability to drive business back to Egypt,” Yehia Rashed, the Egyptian tourism minister said.

Some traders have embraced that positive message, and with robust economic growth forecast, the government is confident.


Floyd Wisner on the future of EgyptAir

For more on the future of EgyptAir and its future, CCTV America’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke to Floyd Wisner, founder of Wisner Law Firm.
Follow Rachelle Akuffo on Twitter @RachelleAkuffo