Egyptian Travel Agent Association (ETAA) held an urgent meeting yesterday to discuss the repercussions of the Saudi Arabia's decision over shutting its embassy to Egypt and recalling its ambassador for consultations. The meeting discussed the influence of that decision on the Umrah (a pilgrim to Mecca) in the tourism agencies. Bassel Al Sessi, chairman of the economic committee in ETAA, said delaying in issuing visas, in case of shutting the embassy for long time, will result in causalities for the companies; explaining that issuing the visas of Umrah is not related to the political tension between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He mentioned that the association follow s the Umrah processes which is being implemented and if there are any problems that may the companies face in implementing their tours. Alaa Al Ghamry, board member in ETAA, if the tension between the Egyptian-Saudi relations exceeded 2 or 3 days, this will delay issuing the Umrah's visas and spark causalities to the tourism agencies; especially almost 6000 to 7000 visas issue every day. Al Ghamry said the Umrah's flights will be implemented during the coming period because they totally paid.
