60% increase in 2017 British inbound tourism to Egypt

CAIRO - 25 August 2017: British inbound tourism to Egypt increased by 60 percent in 2017, compared to 2016 despite the U.K. flight ban to Sharm el-Sheikh resort city, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The statement cited Alistair Burt, the British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa, who is on a two-day visit to Cairo.

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry told Burt in a meeting that Egypt is looking forward to resuming direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, especially after the government has implemented state of the art security measures.

Such resumption would reflect the U.K.’s “genuine will” to help Egypt’s economy, Shoukry added.

London banned direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh after a Russian passenger plane was downed in October 2015. Russia and the U.K. remain the only countries that still uphold the ban.

However, in a recent survey of the fastest growing tourist destinations so far in 2017, Egypt comes in second after Palestine, according to the United Nations World Tourism Authority.

The North African country has witnessed a 51-percent spike in international tourist arrivals this year and is expected to receive 8 million tourists in the remaining months of the year.