Egypt appoints new Minister of Tourism
Rania Al-Mashat has been appointed Egypt’s new Minister of Tourism as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
She replaces Yahya Rashid, who took over the post from Hisham Zaazou in March 2016.
She is the first woman to hold the position and one of six women to currently occupy ministerial roles.
Al-Mashat previously served as a senior economic adviser to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt.
She joins as Egypt continues to put pressure on the UK Government to end its suspension of flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh.
Pressure intensified earlier this month when Russia resumed flights to and from Egypt.
Amr El-Ezabi, director UK & Ireland for the Egyptian State Tourist Authority, said it was a clear sign of Russia’s confidence in Egypt’s improved aviation and airport security standards.
"We hope this will encourage flights back to Sharm el-Sheikh from the UK so that travellers can return to the destination," he said.
Russia suspended all flights to Egypt immediately after the 2015 crash of a Russian Metrojet aircraft shortly after take-off from Sharm.
Other countries quickly followed suit by suspending flights to Sharm, citing security concerns with the airport.
All European countries, except for the UK, have now allowed flights to resume.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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