Za'zou - Tourism Expected to Improve As Several States Lift Travel Ban

Tourism Minister Hisham Za'zou

Tourism Minister Hisham Za'zou expects tourism to improve in November since several countries have already began lifting their travel ban to Egypt after security conditions have become better.

Addressing the opening session of a five-day conference of the Association of Travel Journalists (FIJET), he noted that the Russian ambassador in Cairo has told him that Russia decided to lift its travel ban on all parts of Egypt as of today, adding that several countries have already lifted their travel warnings against the Upper Egypt governorates of Luxor and Aswan.

Tourism suffered a sharp drop in September and October that reached 55 per cent due to negative incidents carried out by Brotherhood elements in streets, he said.

He added that dispersing Brotherhood sit-ins in Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares was an exigency and a public request because protesters attacked citizens and the strikes affected the Egyptian economy and traffic on streets.

He noted that the ministry has a short-term plan for activating tourism, noting that the ministry and the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) cooperated with travel agents and manipulated the internet and social networking services to promote for Egyptian tourist hubs.

He added that the ministry will also launch in the coming period a campaign entitled "Thanks" to activate Arab tourism in Egypt. The campaign is meant to express appreciation to Gulf states which backed Egypt in such sensitive stage.

http://www.egypt.travel/