ASH from an Icelandic volcano, which forced Europe to close its airports during the past week, has had a very minimum effect on the Egyptian tourism industry, Tourism Minister Zoheir Garranah has said. He added on Friday that Egypt's tourism sector, was able to cope with the short-term negative impacts of the Icelandic natural crisis. "Egypt's tourism industry, the country's top hard currency earner, has not felt the pinch of the crisis, with hotel bookings have remained the same, despite the cancellation of many flights coming to Egypt," Garranah said before flying to Istanbul. However, he said he expected that tourists would start coming to Egypt now that flights have been resumed after the volcanic ash cloud cleared from some parts of Europe. Airport authorities said that 32 fully-loaded planes, 14 of which are owned by EgyptAir, were given permission to take off from Cairo to many European capitals whose airspace was reopened to commercial aircraft after the volcano showed signs of less activity. Also some 18 chartered flights from Cairo were allowed to take off to some European countries, the authorities said.
