By Tadhg Peavoy
- Tourist arrivals in Egypt drop by 41.9pc for the month of July
- Revenue expected to decrease from €5.5 billion to €3.6 to €4 billion
In staggering figures released in August, it has been revealed that tourist arrivals in Egypt for July 2016 have dropped 41.9pc since the same month last year.
Egypt’s Official Statistics Authority has released the figures, which note that in July 2016 the north African country had 529,000 visitors, as opposed to 912,000 in 2015.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said that the decline was mostly attributed to the 60pc drop in Russian tourists visiting Egypt. This is a knock-on result of a flight ban after the 2015 Russian plane crash in Sinai last year, where 224 people were killed as the plane took off from Sharm El-Sheikh.
The same incident caused a suspension in flights from Britain, which has influenced a 17.5pc drop in British tourists.
In addition, German and Polish visitors have dropped by 10.4pc and 3.8pc respectively; both countries had also suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh.
Going against the grain, there was an increase in numbers from Arab countries for the month of July, with 223,000 visitors in 2016, as opposed to 182,000 in 2015.
In terms of revenue, a dip from €5.5b to €3.6 – €4b is expected for 2016.
This month a Russian delegation will inspect safety standards at Egyptian airports and a full resumption of flights between the two nations is expected.
Turkey will resume flights in September and Poland and German flights are already back in operation.
