Published on : Wednesday, April 25, 2018
This new law is intended to restrict people offering services and selling trinkets to tourists ahead of the summer season. The government hopes to protect Egypt’s fragile but valuable tourism industry, which makes up 12% of the economy.
An Egyptian tour guide based in Luxor said that the law would target people “fighting for food, fighting to feed their families”.
Some MPs and former officials are of the opinion that punishment should be far stricter, proposing fines of up to EGP20,000.
Tourist numbers have fallen in Egypt in the recent years due to political turbulence of the 2011 revolution and 2013 military coup. All flights from Russia, and flights from the UK to the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, were suspended following downing of an aircraft carrying Russian holidaymakers in October 2015.
However, Egyptian tourism showed clear signs of recovery in 2017, with arrivals jumping to 8.3 million compared with 5.4 million in the previous year. Direct flights between Russia and Cairo resumed earlier this month.
Tags: Egypt