Russia has banned flying to Egypt. How to deal with tourists?

During the day, the FSB offered such a measure until the cause of the crash of the A321 aircraft was established. Almost immediately, Vladimir Putin agreed with the FSB.

“The head of state agreed with these recommendations. V. Putin instructed the government to work out mechanisms for implementing these recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee and ensuring the return of Russian citizens to their homeland,” said press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

“The President also instructed to establish cooperation with the Egyptian side to ensure the safety of air communications,” the press secretary of the head of state noted, writes Interfax.

Rostourism announced that it is creating a special headquarters to organize the removal of Russian tourists from Egypt. About 40% of Russian tourists, according to Rostourism, are in the area of ​​the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, and 60% are in the Hurghada area.

Closing Egypt to Russian tourists is a difficult decision for business, but people’s lives are more important, said Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Tourism Industry (RST), commenting on the decision of the Russian leadership to stop flights to Egypt.

“This is a very difficult decision. On the one hand, this is a serious blow to the tourism business, which is already going through difficult times. Moreover, it is now high season in Egypt. But when business is put on one side of the scale, and human lives are put on the other, it is clear what is more important, what will win. At the time of the A321 disaster, there were about 30 thousand Russian citizens in Egypt, and perhaps even more,” said Irina Tyurina, reports Interfax.

The representative of the Rostourism also added that a refund of money for the vouchers to all tourists who do not fly to Egypt will automatically mean the bankruptcy of tour operators.

“If official recommendations from government authorities not to visit Egypt are accepted, tour operators will be required to return the full cost of the trip. But they will not be able to do this - companies simply have nowhere to get this money, because all the funds do not accumulate in one place, but work. And returning all the money at once will mean the automatic bankruptcy of tour operators, including the largest ones,” Tyurina believes.

Meanwhile, the Russian government announced that “the timing of the departure of Russian citizens from Egypt will be as close as possible to the dates for which they purchased tickets,” the BBC reports.

The United Kingdom on Wednesday suspended all flights of its airlines to Sharm el-Sheikh, and then began an emergency evacuation of its subjects (approximately 20 thousand people), resting on this resort. In this case, the luggage of British tourists will be delivered separately.

Following the UK followed by Ireland, the Netherlands, France.

Turkish Airlines suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6 for security reasons.

Latvian airline AirBaltic 5 November announced the cancellation of all flights to Egypt.

October 5 The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine has banned Ukrainian air carriers from planning flights over the Sinai Peninsula.

To the protection of tourists at the airports of Egypt sent special forces.

Previously "Forum" reportedthat the plane of the Russian company Metrojet flew from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg and crashed over the Sinai Peninsula.

Responsibility for liner crash took the Islamic State grouping itself, however, it did not provide any evidence of its involvement.

US officials say the conversations they intercepted indicate that extremists were involved, and that someone from Sharm el-Sheikh airport helped to place the bomb on the plane.

Al-Sissi denied the statement of the "Islamic State", calling it propaganda aimed at undermining the stability and security of Egypt.

Egyptian authorities soon after crash statedthat the cause of the crash could be a technical failure.

The company Metrojet, in turn, rejected the version of the technical fault, saidthat the only reasonable explanation for what happened can only be an “external impact”.