Denmark has lifted its travel warnings for the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Sharm El-Sheikh due to the improved political and security situation, the state's Al-Ahram news website reported on Friday. The European country's decision means Danes will no longer be warned against travelling to the three areas. There was no such warning in place against travel to Upper Egypt. According to Egypt's tourism ministry, the Danish decision came after both German and Italian authorities removed their warnings against travelling to Sharm El-Sheikh, a tourist hotspot in south Sinai. Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou has been trying to remove all such warnings imposed by European countries since February, when a bomb blast on a tour bus in South Sinai killed three South Koreans and their Egyptian driver and raised concerns about safety in Red Sea resorts. Tourists visiting Egypt in June declined 20.5 percent compared to the same period the year prior, according to the latest report by the ministry. A total of 785,652 foreign tourists spent 6.8 million nights in Egypt this June, compared to 988,573 spending almost eight million nights a year earlier. The report also showed that the first half of 2014 brought 4.4 million tourists to Egypt, a 25 percent drop from the same period the previous year. From January to June, most tourists came from Europe, with 3.4 million Europeans spending 32 million nights in Egypt. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/106546.aspx
