Official statistics show that the number of tourists who entered Egypt in April declined by 54 percent compared to the same month last year. The figure plunged from 923,900 in April 2015 to 425,000 in April 2016, the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency attributed its findings to the decline in the number of Russian tourists. Moscow suspended all flights to Egypt pending an investigation into an October 2015 crash of a Russian jet above Sinai. The charter flight operated by Russian airline Metrojet broke up midair 23 minutes after takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh Airport as it headed to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. The United Kingdom also halted all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh following the crash. In late May, Tourism Minister Yahia Rashed called on Russian authorities to lift the ban on direct flights to Egypt. The number of nights spent by tourists in Egypt decreased in April by 74.6 percent, compared to April last year, with the number of Russian tourists specifically falling by 99.4 percent, CAPMAS said in its statement. The majority…
