Israel Expects Tourist Influx After Russia Bans Flights to Sharm El-Sheikh

Israel is counting on an increase in the number of tourists visiting the country after Russia cancelled all flights to the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, an assistant to the Ministry of Tourism director general, Neta Briskin-Peleg, said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, Moscow announced the suspension of all passenger flights to Egypt, including to the capital of Cairo, amid security concerns after the Russian Airbus A321 crash.

The largest civil aviation catastrophe in Russian and Soviet history took place on October 31, when an Airbus A321 crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

"There were 640,000 tourists [in Israel] before the crisis in 2013. After 2013, the number of tourists decreased by 25-30 percent. Now we are negotiating, I very much hope that we will return to this level," Briskin-Peleg told RIA Novosti in an interview.