The number of tourists visiting Egypt increased by 7 percent in October 2016 compared to September 2016, the state's official statistics body CAPMAS announced on Wednesday In an email press statement, CAPMAS highlighted that Western Europe sent the highest number of visitors to Egypt at 36 percent of all visitors to the country in October. Germany contributed 38.8 percent of all western European tourists to Egypt in that month. Middle Eastern countries came in second in sending visitors to Egypt, with 35.1 percent of total vistors. Eastern Europe ranked third at 18.9 percent. The number of tourists who visited the country in October registered 506,200 compared to 473,000 in September 2016. Tourism in Egypt has been struggling since Russia, along with a number of countries including the UK, suspended in late 2015 passenger flights to the popular Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai due to security concerns following the deadly crash of a Russian jet over the peninsula on 31 October of that year. Prior the plane crash, which killed all 224 people on board, the number of tourists in October 2015 registered 909,400 people, or almost double the number of those who visited the country this October. In May, Germany eased restrictions on flights to the Red Sea resort. Poland and Turkey have recently resumed direct flights to Sharm El-Sheikh. The first passenger direct flights from Germany and Belgium arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh airport in late October ending a one-year hiatus. Direct flights from the UK and Russia have not resumed yet as talks continue with Cairo on security measures. The country's revenues from tourism dropped by 48.9 percent to $3.8 billion in 2015/16 from $7.4 billion in 2014/15, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced in August. Receipts from the tourism industry are expected to range from between $4 billion to $4.5 billion by end of the current year, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said in July.
