Egypt's tourism industry suffers setback after balloon accident

One of the world’s deadliest balloon accident happened on Tuesday when a hot air balloon crashed and came down into a sugarcane field. It was flying over Luxor, an ancient city in Egypt. Nineteen foreign tourists and an Egyptian were killed in the tragedy. They included nine from Hong Kong, four Japanese, two Belgians, two British and two French,

The accident has given a big setback to the Egyptian tourism industry. This area was highly dependent on the tourists for its income. Luxor is one of the archaeological cities, which is known for its temples and monuments. It is located on the banks of the Nile River in the southern part of the country, and has long been a popular tourist destination. Hot air ballooning is one of the popular activity among the tourists who go to visit temples of this city.

Due to the accident, hotels are almost empty even in the peak season. It was one of the worst accidents in the history of the Egyptian tourism industry and it has caused a deep recession in its tourism industry. Luxor, like many other parts of Egypt, has seen a sharp downturn in visitor numbers for the past two years because of previous hot air balloon accidents and political instability.

By Ruchi Singh

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com