CAIRO, March 28 (Reuters) - Egypt will soon allow
Iranians travelling with tour groups to obtain visas on arrival
in the south of its Sinai peninsula with a view to extending
access to other parts of the country, Egyptian tourism ministry
officials said.
The decision is part of a series of measures announced on
Monday aimed at improving access to visas to boost tourism
revenues at a time when Egypt has been struggling economically
with an acute foreign currency shortage.
It also comes as some Middle Eastern countries including
Egypt are taking steps to ease regional tensions. Egypt's Sunni
Muslim Arab ally Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran announced
this month that they would restore diplomatic relations.
Cairo has mended a rift with Qatar and is re-establishing
ties with Turkey, another country to benefit from new visa rules
with Turkish nationals given expanded access to visas on
arrival, according to a Egyptian Tourism Ministry statement.
Among the other new visa rules announced were a $700,
five-year multiple-entry visa, which Tourism Minister Ahmed Issa
told Reuters was aimed at investors and property owners who are
based outside Egypt.
On visas for Iranians arriving in South Sinai, home to the
highly secured resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Issa said: "We will
evaluate the experience of their arrival in South Sinai as a
first step, and building on that, we'll determine if they will
be admitted in other places."
Relations between Egypt and Iran have generally been fraught
in recent decades although the two countries have maintained
diplomatic contacts.
Tourists from China, which Egypt regards as a market with
big potential, and Indians resident in Gulf countries will also
be granted visas on arrival.
All new visa rules have been approved in principle and will
be put into effect soon, a tourism ministry official said.
(Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Aidan Lewis, editing by
Mark Heinrich)
