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Middle East and North Africa

Tour operators see decline in trips to Egypt amid unrest

Guided by recommendations from the Rosturizm Federal Tourism Agency, tour operators had cancelled excursions to Giza and Luxor as well as to other places of interest

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, July 5 (Itar-Tass) - The demand of Russian tourists for trips to Egypt has declined, but there are no mass cancellations of trips, sources from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said on Friday.

They said that guided by recommendations from the Rosturizm Federal Tourism Agency, tour operators had cancelled excursions to Giza and Luxor as well as to other places of interest outside the Red Sea resorts. They also stressed that the tourists holidaying there at the moment don’t ask for returning home ahead of time.

Meanwhile, some tour operators mark that the pace of sales of tours to Egypt has declined. “We have no annulments to that destination in connection with the political developments, but the number of online requests for Egypt on the site has dropped by 30 percent as compared with one month ago,” a representative from one of the major Russian tourism companies said.

On Thursday, Egyptian media reported about a temporary lull in the country. Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry and Rosturizm continue closely monitoring the developments there.

On July 4 there was a session on that issue at Rosturizm, and it was decided to keep in place recommendations for the Russian people not to leave resort zones and stay away from protesters. According to the tourism department, “the situation in resort zones of Egypt remains calm, tourism infrastructure facilities are functioning routinely”. Two officials from Rosturizm are heading for Hurghada on Friday to familiarize themselves with the situation there. Besides, a staffer of the Russian Embassy to Egypt is planning to visit the resort to assess the situation.

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