Egypt imposes new restrictions on tourist visas
Citing national security, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry will no longer issue visas to individual travelers at ports of entry alarming Egypt's tourism sector.
Egypt needs to "revitalize its tourism sector," said Amr Sedky, deputy chairman of the tourism chamber’s board of directors. The sector was disrupted following the "January 25 Revolution of 2011, the subsequent strikes that plagued the country and after many countries imposed travel bans on Egypt."
Sedky’s statement came in response to a March 17 decision by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requiring tourists to obtain visas prior to their arrival in Egypt. As of May 15, tourist visas will no longer be issued at Egyptian ports of entry. Egypt will only grant visas to tour groups organized by national tourism agencies.
Many workers in Egypt's tourist sector opposed the decision, which was passed along to Egypt's embassies.
Sedky said that individual tourism would possibly recover after a March 13 economic conference that hoped to attract investment to Egypt. "Egyptian cities will witness a high level of business tourists," he said. "These [tourists] usually come individually, not in groups, and they often decide to visit Egypt at the last minute without prior preparation. Preventing [these tourists] from obtaining a visa at Egyptian airports will delay their visits and maybe discourage them from ever visiting, given the large number of procedures that are required to extract visas with consulates abroad."
