• Cairo covering cost of flights and extended hotel stays for stranded tourists
• Hundreds of thousands of Russian, Ukrainian tourists flock to Red Sea resorts every winter

Mohammed Abu Zaid

CAIRO: The Egyptian government has announced that it will pay for flights to transport Ukrainian tourists who have been stranded in Egypt to neighboring countries in Europe.

According to Yevvin Gubiev, deputy head of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Egypt, there are some 20,000 Ukrainian tourists in winter resorts on the Red Sea coast who are stranded due to the war.

Gubiev said that most of them are located in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada on the Red Sea, with some tourists in the Marsa Alam resort in the south of the country.

The Egyptian government revealed yesterday evening that: “So far, about 4,000 Ukrainian tourists have been transported, and flights are continuing to operate to ease the suffering of Ukrainian tourists.”

Ambassador Nader Saad, the official spokesman for the Presidency of the Egyptian Cabinet, said: “This comes within the framework of Egypt’s keenness to provide possible aspects of care for nationals of foreign countries coming to Egypt for tourism purposes, and in light of the current events regarding the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the Egyptian government continues to provide the necessary assistance and support for Ukrainian tourists, for whom periods of tourism programs in Egypt have ended.”

He added that “the aspects of support provided by the Egyptian government are represented in extending the period of stay of Ukrainian tourists whose period of stay in Egypt has expired in the same hotels they reside in, and the cost of accommodation has been taken care of.”

The official spokesman said: “It was also agreed to operate flights from EgyptAir and Air Cairo to transport Ukrainian tourists to Ukraine’s neighboring countries, provided that the Egyptian state bears the cost of the flights.”

The Chamber of Hotel Establishments in Egypt shared a memo to all Egyptian hotels immediately after the start of Russian military operations in Ukraine, obligating them to provide free accommodation for Russian and Ukrainian tourists whose visit programs to Egypt have ended until the conditions for their departure are arranged.

Egypt receives hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian tourists annually in its hotels overlooking the Red Sea.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Cairo had earlier addressed the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the necessity of using Egyptian civil or military planes to transport Ukrainian tourists to neighboring countries that are ready to receive them.

In its letter, the embassy expressed its gratitude for the government’s decision to extend the stay of Ukrainian tourists in Egyptian hotels for free.