11/11/2017
Representatives of the Egyptian side again «raised» the issue of visas for Russian tourists on the agenda. At the same time, the deadline is short — until December 3-6. At the same time, the Egyptian side justifies the «refreshing» of the issue, including by the fact that the number of tourists from Russia, despite the official ban, is growing — tourists arrive through other states, including through Belarus and Kazakhstan. According to their estimates, the flow of tourists from Russia reaches 75 thousand tourists. This is significantly less than the numbers of «open» Egypt, which reached 300 thousand Russian tourists a month, but also significant.
Let’s remind that the visa policy of Egypt is notable for considerable inconsistency. Minister of Tourism of the Arab Republic of Egypt Yahya Rashid announced the introduction of electronic visas on June 1. According to him, the new system will allow tourists to apply for an e-visa to Egypt anywhere in the world. At the same time, the minister noted that the innovation will simplify the control procedure at the country’s airports, which in turn will positively affect the flow of tourists to the resorts of Egypt. By the way, this year the country plans to receive 10 million travelers, which will exceed the indicators of 2016 by 2 million people.
Recall that on February 24 this year, a decree was promulgated to increase the cost of a tourist visa to Egypt by 2.5 times from March 1. The document stated that the price of a single entry visa would rise from $ 25 to $ 60, and a multiple entry visa — up to $ 70 — a completely unacceptable price for this tourist destination.
Presumably, the reason for such measures could be the need to get at least some funds from tourists, the number of which has dropped sharply over the past year. However, the local tourism industry reacted with strong protests. As a result, the Egyptian authorities postponed the increase in the cost of entry visas from $ 25 to $ 60 on July 1, 2017.
However, even in this case, prices did not rise — at the end of March, Yahya Rashid announced that Egypt had refused to increase the cost of tourist visas.
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