The Russian passenger plane crash into the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, continues to damage Egypt’s tourism sector. The number of tourists visiting Egypt declined in February for the fourth consecutive month.
Egypt saw 346,500 tourists in February, down 46 percent compared to the same month last year, according to the state statistics body CAPMAS. The statistics show that West Europeans top the visitor list, making up 35.6 percent of the total arriving tourists in February, followed by Middle Easterners with 26.7 percent and East Europeans with 14.1 percent.
The countries sending the most tourists in each region are Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine.
In February 2016, tourists spent a total of 1.8 million nights in the country, versus 5.6 million in February 2015.
The current decline in tourist numbers comes after a Russian passenger jet crashed in Sinai on 31 October last year, killing all 224 people on board, most of them were Russian holidaymakers.
Russia, the UK and a number of other countries have since suspended all flights to Sharm El-Sheikh airport, where the plane took off.
