Lost City of Sharm El Sheikh: Egypt's tourist hotspots are GHOST TOWNS amid terror fear

THE resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has seen a decline of nearly 50 per cent in the number of tourists visiting since the terror alerts last year.

Egypt's tourism in chaosGETTY

Egypt's tourism is in chaos after the terror crisis

There is a 'high risk' of terrorism in Egypt, according to Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office - and that's put a stop to a huge chunk of the travel industry in the country. 

UK airlines are no longer operating flights to the resort from the UK, meaning the country's seen a huge drop in the number of visitors leaving hotels and once-thriving beaches like ghost towns. 

According to figures from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, Egypt attracted just 346,500 tourists in February 2016.

When compared to 640,200 the previous year, that's a huge drop of 45.9 per cent. But what happened? 

It was once a popular holiday destination, but after facing bombings and political unrest over the past decade - and last year's plane crash in Sharm El Sheikh - Egypt’s tourism industry is suffering a huge decline.

HotelsGETTY

Shops have been covered up with cloth, not selling anything to tourists anymore

HotelsGETTY

Hotels once thriving with British tourists are now abandoned and empty

Reports found, whilst the country attracted around 15 million visitors a year up until the 2011 Arab Spring, figures dropped to just nine million in 2014.

And with a huge decline in tourism, once thriving holiday resorts - including Sharm El Sheikh and Nuweibaa - have become virtual ghost towns. 

Married photographers Andrea and Magda spent nine-months touring the Sinai region to find many places they’d once visited had since closed down.

The news of tourism decline in the country comes after details were revealed about the EgyptAir plane hijacking

Sharm El Sheikh was able to recover from previous shocks, including a series of deadly militant bombings along the Red Sea coast between 2004 and 2006.

Empty hotel in Sharm El SheikhGETTY

Empty hotel in Sharm El Sheikh

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And despite the political turmoil since the 2011 uprising, which overthrew the long-time leader, President Hosni Mubarak, the resort proved resilient compared to other popular attractions like the Giza Pyramids and Luxor.

But on October 31st this year, Egypt faced horror when a Russian passenger plane was brought down by a bomb in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

ISIS groups soon claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement through their propaganda agency: "The fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders. They were all killed, thanks be to God."

As a result of the crash, up to 20,000 Britons were left stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh after UK flights to and from the resort were grounded on Prime Minister David Cameron’s orders.

Deserted beach in Sharm El SheikhGETTY

Deserted beach in Sharm El Sheikh

It was reported tour operators were considering scraping all package holidays directly to Sharm el-Sheikh unless they received assurance the airport is secure from infiltration by jihadists.

British Airways and Easyjet have cancelled all flights to the resort indefinitely.

Would you risk going to Egypt during this time of unrest? Express.co.uk have looked into the safest holidays if you want to avoid terror

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