Egypt's tourism industry expects painful blow
Egypt's tourism sector is dreading the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian tourists make up the bulk of visitors to the Arab country, constituting almost a third of the 12 million tourists who visited in peak years.
Between 300,000 and 500,000 Russian tourists are believed to have visited Egypt each month as of July last year, with 125,000 Russian tourists visiting the country in the first two weeks of 2022.
Meanwhile, in 2019, 1.6 million Ukrainian tourists visited Egypt.
"Effects from the war have already started appearing, with bookings from the two countries stopping altogether," Basel al-Sisi, a member of the Egyptian Travel Agents' Association, told MEE.
"Russians and Ukrainians are just afraid that they would not be able to return to their countries if they get out of them now."
Read our full story here for more information.