Egypt has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since a Russian plane was shot down after taking off from the popular resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, paralyzing the country's important tourism industry.
The governor of South Sinai, Khaled Fuda, said today to the state newspaper El Ahram that the occupancy of hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada is less than 20 percent and that those cities were losing almost two billion Egyptian pounds (more than $250 million) per month.
A Russian plane carrying 224 passengers and crew crashed on October 31 shortly after takeoff, prompting Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt and Great Britain to cancel flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.
The Islamic State claims to have planted a bomb on the plane, and Moscow has estimated that the plane was shot down by an improvised explosive device. Egypt says it is still investigating the cause of the plane crash.
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