Egypt Accepts Rubles To Increase Tourism From Russia

As per the press office of Russian international tour operator Tez Tours, officials at the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Central Bank are contemplating adding Russian rubles to the list of foreign currencies permitted and accepted for legal payments in the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Egyptian authorities hope that the decision would help enhance the country’s tourist economy and attract more Russian visitors. Tez Tours did not go into detail on how Egyptian banks will take Russian currencies but did say that “special e-devices at bank branches” are being deployed for that purpose.

According to Tez Tours, the Russian ruble will be added to the list of currencies accepted in Egypt “from the end of September 2022,” just at the start of the peak tourism season. Providing chances for travel businesses and hotels to take rubles as payment, in conjunction with other variables, would surely have a beneficial influence on the Russian Federation’s tourist influx into Egypt.

Egypt continues to be the most popular holiday destination among Russian visitors throughout the fall and winter seasons, accounting for 46% of all bookings. Following the reopening of Russian commercial and charter flights to the Egyptian Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada in the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of Russian visitors visiting Egypt increased to one million.

The Russian government has barred its airlines from traveling to Egypt following the downing of a passenger jet on October 31, 2015, which killed 224 Russians. On October 31, 2015, at 06:13 a.m. local time (04:13 a.m. UTC), an Airbus A321-231 flying from Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport in Egypt to Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia, exploded over the northern Sinai Peninsula. The plane’s 224 passengers and crew were all killed.