By Akram Medhat
Hesham El-Demery, head of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, is taking part in the "Leisure" international tourism fair in the Russian capital, Moscow, being held from September 19 to 21.
El-Demery said that "Leisure" is the largest tourism fair in Russia, adding that he will meet tour operators there to discuss strategies for working with them and will present to them the authority's plan for the Russian tourism market once flights between the two countries resume, in light of promising indicators pointing to the return of Russian tourism to Egypt soon.
He added that on the sidelines of the fair he will hold a number of press interviews in which he will stress the safety of the Egyptian tourist destination and its readiness to receive Russian tourism again when it returns, as well as the beginning of tourism's strong return to Egypt, as attested by many international organizations, led by the World Tourism Organization, in addition to the report of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which confirmed that Egyptian airports are among the top 20 countries in applying the organization's standards.
According to tourism statistics obtained exclusively by "Travel Yalla News", Egypt recorded the arrival of about 53,000 Russian tourists from January to the end of August 2017, up 70% from the same period in the crisis year of 2016, and they spent 514,000 tourist nights, despite the complete halt of flights between the two countries since the ban decision of November 7, 2015.
