Beleaguered Egypt uses lives webcams to show tourists that Red Sea resorts are safe

The number of tourists fleeing for a dose of sunshine in Egypt's Red Sea resorts is still on a par with last year's figures in spite of a tumultuous year, the country's tourism authority has said.
Speaking at the World Travel Market (WTM) conference in London, director of the Egyptian State Tourist Office in London, Omayma Elhusseini, said tourism to the popular Red Sea resorts is still fractionally up - by 0.7 per cent - year on year.

Egypt: The Red Sea resorts are hopeful they can still increase tourism - although only marginally - this year

See it with your own eyes: Egyptian tourism officials are using webcams to stream real-time images from the Red Sea resort beaches

She added that webcams would be used to show potential holidaymakers that the golden beaches in the country's South Sinai region were unaffected by the often violent protests that have blighted other parts of Egypt this year.
"We want to let people know what other people are enjoying and to encourage the tourists to keep on coming," she said.
Although the Red Sea has survived relatively unscathed, tourism figures to other usually popular destinations including Luxor and Aswan have suffered badly. 
The British government continues to advise against 'all but essential travel' to all of the country except the Red Sea resorts, meaning British tourists are still free to holiday in destinations such as Sharm El Sheikh.
Mrs Elhusseini said she was hopeful that the FCO would relax the advice soon.
The country's minister of tourism Hisham Zaazou will meet British government officials this month to discuss the current advisory. 

Advisory: Violent protests across Egypt, and particularly in the capital Cario, have seen the FCO ban 'all but essential travel' to most areas

Mr Zaazou told the WTM press conference: "More than 18 countries have lifted the travel advisory on Luxor and Aswan. As soon as the FCO revises its travel advice for the UK, we will work tirelessly with our valued media, travel agent and tour operator partners to communicate that the whole of Egypt is open."
He added that the tourism authority was using "the latest visual technologies such as webcams and mobile apps to show exactly what is happening on the ground in Egypt now."