Egypt to invest millions in security at Hurghada and Sharm
Egypt is putting more security staff, sniffer dogs, CCTV cameras and X-ray machines in its Red Sea resorts to improve security for holidaymakers.
The country’s government is to spend just over £22 million on the measures in Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada in a bid to win back tourists.
Visitor numbers have plummeted since a number of terror attacks, a plane crash in the Sinai, and political instability.
Egypt hopes the investment will help reassure holidaymakers and help bring back much needed tourism income.
Egypt’s Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said the measures, which will be put into place in the next few weeks, would bring tourist security to another level.
But he said the country would not stop there.
"We constantly review our capabilities on a regular basis and will continue to do so," he said.
But he told the Telegraph that the measures would not make visitors feel overly-guarded and there would be a good balance between feeling safe and enjoying their holiday.
The latest scanning equipment and additional security personnel will monitor key points around the hotel, including access from the sea.
CCTV cameras at hotels will be linked up to government security control rooms.
Better security will also be installed at key archaeological and tourism sites, including the ancient temples at Luxor which was the target of an attempted suicide bomb attack last June.
Last week, three tourists were injured in a knife attack at a hotel in Hurghada and an ISIS-claimed attack saw tourists being pelted with pellet guns as they boarded a bus to see the Giza pyramids.
Flights from the UK have been suspended to Sharm el Sheikh since November over fears that a Russian jet, which crashed in the Sinai just after leaving the resort’s airport, was brought down by a bomb.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed all 224 on board.
Russia has since stopped all flights to Egypt.
Although UK flights have been stopped to Sharm, the UK Government is not advising against visiting the resort.
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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