Chairman of Egypt’s Tourism Promotion Authority Hisham Al Demiri revealed that Incoming tourism traffic to Egypt from Central and Eastern Europe witnessed notable progress during the recent months. He added that Charter flights are scheduled to turn directly from Prague to Sharm El Sheikh after nearly three-year suspension since 2015.

He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that the authority exerts its efforts during the current period to restore tourist movement coming to Egypt to their natural rates by the end of this year.

He praised the promotional campaign launched by the Egyptian government to activate tourism in Egypt in Central and Eastern Europe, saying that the campaign left positive repercussions on the country’s vital sector. He signaled that the hotels in Sharm Al Sheikh and Hurgada witnessed increasing rates of occupancy.

He added that the tourists coming from Italy witnessed notable increase adding that there are over one thousand Italian tourists existed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al Sheikh during the current period. He denied what was published over increasing the prices of entry visas, saying that the Egyptian government has not taken any decisions harming the tourist movement. He added that the decision is currently under consideration.

He added that he held a meeting with a number of tour operators, saying that he called them for exerting efforts to underlining the tourist production and its diversity during the coming period to attract the different kinds of tourists. He added that they give priority to the development of tourist sector to restore the previous rates the country achieved in 2010.

Regarding to Russian tourists, he added that the authority is ready to receive tourists coming from Russia, adding that the tour operators should focus on the Russian market one the Russian government lifts its ban imposed on the Russian flights to Egypt. He stressed the readiness of Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism to support the tour operators to restore the rates of Russian tourists visiting the country.