Russian plane crash shakes Egypt’s tourism industry

CAIRO

As Cairo International Airport announced on Saturday the suspension of flights between Cairo and Moscow in response to a similar move by Russia, things became more complicated for Egypt's tourism sector.

The crash and its consequences have bruised an already struggling tourism industry in the Arab nation.

“The incident was catastrophic for all tourism workers,” Ahmed Gresha, a travel agent, told Anadolu Agency. “For four years, we have been struggling to revive the tourism industry, but the crash has come to waste our efforts.”

The Russian Airbus A321 aircraft crashed on Oct. 31 shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

An inquiry into the causes of the crash is still underway, but a number of western countries have said the plane might have been brought down by a bomb on board.

Following the crash, several countries suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, dealing a heavy blow to Egypt’s already-reeling tourism industry.

“This is a conspiracy against Egypt,” Gresha said. “Western countries should have waited until the results of the ongoing investigation into the causes of the crash were revealed.”

Deadly blow

Gresha said thousands of tourists have canceled their reservations over security concerns following the tragedy.

“If this trend continues, we will lose our main source of income,” said Gresha, whose firm is dealing with tourists coming from Britain and Russia.

Egypt’s tourism industry has been hammered by four years of political turmoil since a popular uprising forced autocrat Hosni Mubarak to step down in 2011.

Security fears following the crash have prompted Russia and Britain – the biggest source market for Egypt – to dispatch several planes to evacuate their citizens from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Russia had been the largest inbound market in 2014 for Egyptian tourism, followed by Britain.

Russia was also the fastest growing market for Egyptian tourism in 2014.

Britain was the second biggest source market for Egypt with one million arrivals in terms of trips to the Arab country in 2014, after Russia, which recorded nearly three million arrivals during the same year.

Tourism is one of Egypt’s biggest employers and foreign currency earners. Egypt earned $7.4 billion from tourism in the fiscal year that ended in June.

The tourism industry accounted for nearly 13 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product in 2014, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Travel and tourism also provided nearly 12 percent of Egypt’s jobs last year.