Cairo, May 10 (IANS/AKI) The number of tourists visiting Egypt fell by 47.2 percent between March 2015 and the same month this year, according to official statistics cited by state-run daily Al-Ahram.
A total of 440,700 tourists visited Egypt in March, compared with 834,600 in the same month last year, said the country's central statistics office, quoted by Al-Ahram.
Egypt's authorities blame the slump in tourist bookings on fears caused by the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Sinai in October which killed all 224 people on board.
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The Islamic State jihadist group claimed it brought down the flight which was travelling from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to St Petersburg.
Western Europeans formed the biggest group of visitors to Egypt (slightly over one-third) followed by tourists from the Middle East and eastern Europe.
Egypt was most popular with Germans, Saudi Arabians and Ukrainians.
--IANS/AKI
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