50 diving centers close in South Sinai

[Neilwood]

Hopefully the problems can be rectified in time to prevent the complete loss of diving in the vicinity (especially as I have booked a place on a liveaboard for October)!

 

[scubadada]

See my post # 4. There were several significant attacks prior to the instability of 2011, 2013, and 2015. These included a massacre at the Temple of Hatshepsut in 1997 and suicide bombings in Sharm el-Sheik in 2005 and in Dahab in 2006. Egypt has been very negatively impacted by these events regarding tourism. My wife and I had a very enjoyable visit to Cairo and the Nile Valley in February, I will be back for two weeks on the Red Sea at the end of April, 1st week of May. The world is an unstable place, you can take calculated risks or be paralyzed by fear.

 

[tamas970]

We have to put the numbers on their deserved place. Just a question: how many tourists died in the past 10 years in Egypt because of non-natural causes? (Road/sport accidents, food poisoning, murder, eaten by a crocodile, etc)

I don't want to underestimate the risks, but raising panic doesn't help much either. On different forums I see panicking people, canceling their trips even if that costs them 2-3k$ while the real risk of getting caught in an attack is most likely lower because of tightened security. Terrorism is a global risk, in Egypt you have the same chance to get caught in an attack as in Paris, London, Berlin, Brussels, etc.

The current panic and the complete stop of russian tourists has a detrimental effect on turism in Egypt and causes overloading in all tropical destinations: a friend reported from Thailand, that you see more divers than fish these days. OTOH some egyptian reefs enjoy a well deserved break with less humans spooking marine life.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

The current panic and the complete stop of russian tourists has a detrimental effect on tourism in Egypt and causes overloading in all tropical destinations: a friend reported from Thailand, that you see more divers than fish these days. OTOH some Egyptian reefs enjoy a well deserved break with less humans spooking marine life.

I was in Thailand this past January and I agree, I saw more divers than fish!

 

[dbulmer]

I was in Hurghada in January - I saw fish and fishing nets (Fish I like) but illegal nets don't help. I assisted a DM in removing one net - a crude net with about 15 hooks - all the hooks very shiny so probably dumped recently.