CAIRO: Ministry of Tourism has allocated 150 million EGP ($19.1 million) to install surveillance cameras in hotels and touristic points of interest in the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Thursday.
Bolstering security is the most important element of boosting tourism, especially in light of the country’s opening of major projects, South Sinai Governor Major General Khalid Fouda said during a meeting with hotel managers, businessmen and investors in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt’s political turmoil following the 2011 January uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak has badly affected tourism sector. Providing direct and indirect employment to up to 12.6 percent of the country’s workforce, tourism is Egypt’s second most important source of national income after the Suez Canal.
In March 2014, British tourist was raped in her hotel room by a security guard in Sharm el-Sheikh.
In February 2014, a car bomb detonated on a tourist bus in Taba killing three including South Korean tourist.
In June, ISIS has attacked five Egyptian military checkpoints in North Sinai, killing 17 Egyptian soldiers and injuring 30.