Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou described Poland's easing of its travel warnings for its citizens to Egypt as good and a step on the way to restoring inbound tourism, especially as Poland was the only country that had recently decided to ban its citizens from traveling to Egypt, stressing that the coordination between the ministries of foreign affairs and tourism has been fruitful in this regard.
Zaazou explained in a statement today that the Polish Foreign Ministry's recommendations on travel to Egypt have been positively amended to allow air travel to the Red Sea tourist areas, namely Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, El Gouna, Safaga and Marsa Alam.
Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou had held bilateral talks with Polish Ambassador in Cairo Michał Murkociński at the beginning of last week to discuss tourism relations between the two countries and the lifting of the ban imposed by the Polish authorities on travel to Egypt.
During the meeting, Zaazou pointed out that the political leadership supports the tourism file as one of the most important tributaries of the national economy, and that the ministry strongly supports investment in security with regard to raising security efficiency in tourist areas, noting that the security authorities have taken measures to ensure the safety and security of the Egyptian tourist destination. The minister expressed readiness to host security delegations from the Polish side to see the reality of the situation in Egypt and its stability.
For his part, the Polish ambassador expressed his desire to begin talks on resuming direct flights between Egypt and Poland, and to hold a joint round of talks attended by the Egyptian ministers of tourism and aviation, especially as Poland represents an important market for Egyptian tourism.
It is worth noting that Poland is one of the largest source markets for tourism to Egypt, as the number of Polish tourists reached about 594,000 in the peak year of 2010. This figure fell to 378,000 tourists in 2011, and they recorded about 182,000 tourists in the period from January to the end of September of this year.
