And its (Egypt's) foundations will be broken. All who make wages will be troubled of soul. (Isaiah 19:10)
Tourism is absolutely vital to the Egyptian economy – at its peak before the revolution in 2011, which saw the fall of President Mubarak- it employed 10-12 per cent of the workforce and brought in almost 8 billion a year.
Just look at the numbers – there were 14.7 million tourists in 2010; by 2013. it had slumped by a third to 9.5 million, with around 900,000 of those from the UK.
The tourist industry clearly took a huge hit after the 2011 revolution.
Then the crash of the Russian holiday jet in North Sinai on October 31, 2015 was a hammer blow, as European airlines stopped flying to Sharm el-Sheikh on the advice of governments over fears that security at the airport had been compromised and a bomb was smuggled on board.
And in January three Western tourists were stabbed by suspected Islamic State militants at a Hurghada hotel; thankfully the holidaymakers were not seriously injured. (Read More)
