(AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI)
By Tim Nanns
German ambassador Hansjörg Haber issued a statement Sunday announcing the warning for travelling by land in South Sinai has now been lifted.
Haber said this step was justified given the change in the safety situation, but did not state any specific incidents. In the same statement, the ambassador spoke of his joy on lifting the warning just before the ITB exhibition, the international tourism trade fair in Berlin, enabling a push for the Egyptian tourism industry.
This push is desperately needed since the Egyptian tourism industry has suffered a decline since the 25 January Revolution, due to the ensuing safety problems especially in Sinai.
Only last summer, several European countries, including Germany, lifted the travel ban for South Sinai. It had been imposed as a reaction to the bomb attack that killed three South Korean tourists and their Egyptian driver in February 2014.
Janina Markewitsch, Head of the German embassy’s Press Section, told Daily News Egypt that “The travel advice […] is constantly reviewed and adapted, it reflects the current analysis of the security situation on the ground”.
She added that it therefore was not possible to uphold the travel warning, but still recommended “particular caution when travelling through this area”.
However, the embassy still has a travel warning for North Sinai, where clashes between army forces and armed groups are highly frequent.
