Russia, UK Nationals Leaving to Result in Egypt Losing 70% of Tourists

Russian and British tourists leaving Egypt would deprive the country of 70 percent of tourist traffic, resulting in a "severe blow" to the industry, which constitutes over 11 percent of Egypt's GDP and brings more than 14 percent of foreign currency earnings to the country’s treasury, Adviser to the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Mohamed Yousef said.

CAIRO (Sputnik) — According to Yousef, Russian tourists are in the first place, with some 3 million of them visiting the Egypt every year, while around 1 million British nationals goes to the country’s resorts yearly.

"Their withdrawal from the market is a severe blow to the industry. The losses will amount to 70 percent of the tourist traffic," Yousef said, as quoted by the Al-Ahram newspaper.

The Russian Airbus A321 crashed en route from Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg on October 31. All 224 people on board were killed in what has become the biggest tragedy in Russian and Soviet civil aviation history.

On Wednesday, the UK government said there were concerns the Russian passenger plane might have been downed by a terrorist bomb and suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh airport. The UK Foreign Office also advised its citizens to refrain from all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh.

The suspension of commercial flights between Russia and Egypt became effective at 08.00 pm Moscow time (17:00 GMT) on Friday, according to Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov.