Arriving from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made a surprise visit to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh and pledged to keep the tourism industry in business.
Sisi made reference to the Russian passenger plane that crashed on October 31 in Sinai, killing all 224 on board, but didn’t give specifics in terms of future security precautions.
Russia ordered the suspension of all flights to Egypt while several other airlines temporarily halted flights over the Sinai Peninsula, moves that hit Egypt’s tourism industry hard.
“The lights will not be going out in Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada while we are here. We will support them in facing the situation,” Reuters quoted Sisi as saying.
The plane crash was “an isolated incident,” Sisi told the state-owned Nile News TV channel. There has been mounting speculation that a bomb on board the plane caused the tragedy, but Sisi insisted that it is still too early to determine the cause and cautioned the media “not to jump to conclusions,” but to await the official investigation results.
“We won’t cover anything up, as this involves the lives of innocent people who came to Egypt,” he said.
Sisi claimed all visitors and tourists should “come in peace and return home in peace.”
He made no reference to an incident in the Western Desert in September, in which 12 Mexican tourists and their Egyptian guides were killed by security forces.
Some estimates suggest the country may lose over LE184 million (approximately US$280 million) per month as a result of the suspension of Russian and British flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. Reuters reported that these two countries alone account for nearly two-thirds of foreigners visiting the Red Sea resort city.
Mohamed Youssef, an adviser to the tourism minister, reported that 3 million Russian tourists visit Egypt per year, and 1 million from the UK.
Tens of thousands of Russians are still in Sharm el-Sheikh, and were given the option to leave or continue their holidays.
Egyptian officials sought to further promote Russian tourism and bilateral trade earlier in the year by allowing the use of Rubles in Egypt, and suggesting removing the payment of entry visas for Russian tourists.
