Egypt calls for plans to revitalize tourism

An Egyptian official said Friday that an immediate plan should be implemented to improve the fragile tourism industry in the North African country.

"After this quick plan, we should also implement both short-term and long-term plans to promote tourism," said Ahmed Abdullah, governor of Egypt's Red Sea Governorate.

The governor said that the government, workers in the tourism sector, academics and experts should jointly work to find solutions to once again make Egypt a world famous tourist destination.

The official made the remarks at the first Academic Tourist Conference which was held in Hurghada, a main tourist center and third largest city in Egypt located on the Red Sea coast.

The conference is meant to discuss means to rejuvenate the country's deteriorating tourism industry.

Egypt has been taking a series of measures to breathe life into tourism after a Russian airplane crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in October last year.

The incident dealt a blow to Egypt's already battered tourism sector, as it eventually led some countries, including Britain and Russia, to suspend their flights to Egypt's renowned Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals there over security concerns.

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled former long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has descended into political, economic and social chaos, causing recession to its tourism industry, one of the main sources of the country's national income and foreign currency reserves. Endi