Foreign Ministry raises entry visa fees | Egypt Independent
The Foreign Ministry has decided to raise entry fees to Egypt from
various land, sea, and air ports from US$25 to $60, starting March 1st,
amid the rejection of tourism sector companies and officials.
First of all notice that every article you read about this is quoted from the original article of Al Ahram Online http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/258816/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-increases-fees-for-tourists-entry-visas-Airp.aspx and their source is "an airport official" which means that if they had it wrong, everybody has it wrong. The time where news reporters fact checked their article is over, just copy-paste from other news sites.
ReplyDeleteIf this was thru (which I doubt) then implementing such an increase with only a few days notice would be very unprofessional. There is a need for an increase, and yes the visa income is an important one for Egypt. But you would expect an increase like last time in 2014 when the price went up from 15$ to 25 $. So an increase at this point from 25 to 30 or even 35$ would be fairly normal. Doing this with only a few days notice in a time where we all struggle to get the tourists back to Egypt is ofcourse not the right way, tourists need to be able to base their decision on this.
In the past there have been several announcements of more (or less) official sources stating changes to the visa rules, almost always these changes have been revoked before implementation or were just personal thoughts of someone who did not have the authority for these changes. The news aricle in Egypt independent http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/foreign-ministry-raises-entry-visa-fees does not mention the name of the so called "official" but states "The Foreign Ministry" as the source and had a chat with the "captain of the Red Sea tour guides" who states that Egypt is mainly visited by poor farmers. I have no idea who this Captain is, but my captian Bakash would disagree with him. All in all this whole aritcle sounds quite rubbish.
Remember this one? (hint... it never happened)
http://www.voanews.com/a/egypt-introduces-new-visa-requirements/2701560.html
There is no mention of increased visa prices on the official governement website:
http://www.mfa.gov.eg/english/ConsularServices/Pages/ConsularServiceDetails.aspx?ID=Visa%20Application
Pete this has now been published by the Egyptian Embassy in Paris. rumours have been circulating on Facebook for a couple of weeks. I am afraid this is the way things are done in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteWhat would your prefer, that I didnt give a heads up and you arrived in Egypt without the funds