CAIRO (Sputnik) – The largest civil aviation catastrophe in Russian and Soviet history took place on Saturday when the Airbus A321 crashed en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.
"The incident in the Sinai [Peninsula] has very much influenced the total number of tourists, not only in Sharm el-Sheikh, but also at other resorts in Egypt. The flow of tourists dropped but exact figures cannot be determined yet," Zayat told RIA Novosti.
The UK government's decision on Wednesday to ban all flights to Sharm el-Sheikh over security concerns played a significant role in the decline, he added, noting that the flow of Russian tourists fell slightly but the number of holidaymakers from France, the United Kingdom and Italy are expected to drop dramatically.
Tourism accounts for 11.3 percent of Egypt's GDP, according to data from the country's Tourism Ministry.
