Anyone working for a long time in Egyptian tourism knows that something is rarely as bad as it may seem at first. The ups and downs of the last few weeks in the visa discussion proof this to be true once again.
In late March the Egyptian forgei minister, without consultation with the Minister of Tourism and without examining whether the consulates are prepared accordingly, dared to venture that the visa for individual tourists, so those who do NOT book through a tour operator, as of May, 2015 only still can be issued through the consulates in advance and no more would it be available upon arrival at the airport. Package tourists should obtain visas through the travel agent in advance.

The good intention behind this new rule was to improve the current visa procedure at Egypt’s airports (eg Hurghada) that many evaluate to be unsatisfactory.
However, it was (again) shot too quickly and carelessly over the top and there was an outcry by the tourism industry, as before, at the announcement of the visa fee increase of 15 U$ 25 to U$, which was postponed several times.

Successful, ultra-modern compromise

The Minister of Tourism and the embassies and consulates tried to find a compromise and this was achieved and it was followed by the announcement to develop a modern electronic visa application (ETA), as it is for example already being successfully practiced by India and Australia.
This facilitates the entry for both sides, the tourists and the authorities and is a further step in the modernization of the Egyptian tourism for the future.

No correspondence or visit the consulate is necessary since both the application and the granting of the visa is done online.

We at Hurghada Information will keep you up to date and report news on the Egyptian e-visa.

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