292,000 Israeli tourists visited Egypt in 1997

The Egyptian Shura council revealed an increase in the number of Israeli tourists coming to Egypt and a recent decrease in the number of Arab tourists.

The report of the information and cultural committee tackled by the council today said that 292,532 Israelis visited Egypt during 1997 in comparison to 165,013 Arab tourists.

The report said that Sudanese and Libyan tourists refrained from visiting Egypt for political reasons. It related the reasons for the increase in Israeli tourists to the easy of entry for buses from the Rafah border crossing.

The report, moreover, confirmed that the Israelis visit the Port Said markets and the beaches of Taba, the Gulf of Aqaba and Moussa Mountain.

Moreover, the Egyptian Shura council called on the tourism ministry to present a study on the reasons for the reduction in Arab tourism, as it accounted for 49.5% of tourism in 1991 and fell to 24.4% on 1997.