Rosturizm head, Egyptian Ambassador to Russia confer on tourism cooperation
MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) - Federal Tourism Agency (Rosturizm) head, Oleg Safonov, met with Egyptian Ambassador to Russia, Mohammed al-Badri, on Wednesday, to discuss cooperation in the field of tourism, says a report posted on the agency website on Thursday.
"On February 3, Rosturizm hosted a meeting between Federal Tourism Agency head Oleg Safonov, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Russia Mohammed al-Badri, at the request of the Egyptian side. It [the meeting] was devoted to matters of bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism," the report said.
A Russian Kogalymavia Airbus A321 passenger plane, en route from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015, killing all 217 passengers and seven crewmembers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 8, 2015, issued a decree on measures to ensure Russia's national security and protection of Russian citizens, from criminal and other illegal actions, which suspends flights to Egypt.
On November 17, 2015, the Russian authorities classified the disaster as a terrorist attack, after concluding that it was caused by the explosion of a bomb aboard the airliner.
It has been reported earlier that Egypt lost about 15% of tourism industry earnings in 2015, because of the crisis in Russia and terrorist attacks.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, Egypt saw almost 2 million tourist arrivals from Russia in the first nine months of last year, or 9% less, than the year before.
