This week’s biggest tourism news is the resumption of all flights between Russia and Egypt after a 6-year hiatus with many in the tourism industry, particularly those in the Red Sea area, expecting to the see tourism flourish after a continued dry spell due to the on-going pandemic.

Goldman Sachs expects that once Russian-Egypt tourism returns to pre-2015 levels, local tourism revenues will climb up to $3 billion annually (around 0.75 percent of GDP).

Before direct flights were suspended in October 2015, Russian tourists represented around third of all inbound tourists to Egypt.

Goldman Sachs’ forecast also notes that revenues will climb gradually due to the on-going pandemic.

The company also highlighted that the resumption of flights will be a major boost to the prospects for recovery for the tourism sector in Egypt, as well as boost future foreign exchange resources.

The average income of each tourist in Egypt over the past three years exceeded $1,000, with 3.1 million Russian tourists visiting Egypt in 2014, wrote Goldman Sachs. Russian tourists dropped to an average of 100,000 annually after the suspension of flights after the Metroject plane accident in 2015.

Egyptian tourist resorts are ready to receive tourists from Russia and from all over the world, Minister of Tourism Khaled El-Anani said on Sunday amid Russian plans to resume flights to the Egyptian seaside resorts shortly after a 5-year-plus suspension.

According to Russian press reports, improved safety standards are now allowing flights to be resumed, and the resumption of tourism to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai is being discussed.

Over the past several years, Russian aviation and security experts have inspected safety measures at Egyptian airports, including Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, on more than one occasion.