Egypt is one of the countries making a comeback among German tourists this summer season and has scored the highest increase in booking, Germany's tourist news website fvw, which has been reporting tourism news for the past 45 years, reported recently citing two new surveys. The surveys, carried out by the German Travel Association (DRV) and the internet travel retail association VIR (Verband Internet Reisevertrieb), confirmed that mediterranean countries are the top destinations for German tourists. VIR chief Michael Buller said Egypt's comeback is due to a “calmer situation [in the country] and good value for money.” Other Arab countries making a comeback among German tourists are Morocco and Tunisia while Spain, Majorca in particular, is the clear number one foreign destination. Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Malta also saw substantial growth in bookings. While Egypt's Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh Airports were not among the top three destination airports, they registered the highest growth rate of over 600 percent. Hurghada's Airport rose from seventh to fourth place compared to the same time last year, fvw reported. Egypt's tourism industry suffered acutely after a Russian passenger jet crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board, mostly holidaymakers. However, the country saw a 51 percent rise in the number of tourists visiting Egypt during the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year. Germany topped the list of visiting tourists during the first three months of 2017, followed by Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, China and the United Kingdom.
