Spain updates travel advice on Egypt’s Sharm el sheikh

CAIRO – 12 July 2019: The Spanish authorities have updated their travel advice for its citizens on Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh City, saying the city is as safe as other cities of Luxor, Aswan, and tourist destinations.

The update came following a visit paid by a delegation from the embassy in Cairo to Sharm el Sheikh in June, where they checked the latest security measures taken by the Egyptian authorities, an official at the embassy told Egypt Today on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief the media.

The delegation praised the improvement of the touristic destination infrastructure, the official said.

It is expected that Spanish Iberia airlines could resume its flights to Egypt following several yeas of hiatus; the Spanish airlines announced that directs flights from Egypt to Spain would operate on March 2, 2020, the official said.

Early May, the Canadian government updated travel advice for its citizens, asking them to exercise a high security caution while travelling to Egypt after being avoided for non-essential travel, said Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Thursday.

Several European countries’ flights to Egypt were suspended at the end of 2015 after a bomb downed a Russian flight carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board, mostly Russian tourists. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.

Since the crash, Egypt has been implementing new, tighter security measures at all of its airports to meet demands necessary for the resumption of flights.
Additional reporting by Engy Madgi