Egypt and Morocco open to Israeli tourists with new direct flights

Israel and Egypt inaugurated on April 17 a first direct air link between the cities of Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh, a seaside resort on the Red Sea.

“This is the first flight of an Israeli airline to Sharm el-Sheikh”said in a press release the Israeli national company El-Al, even if direct flights already connect the airport of Tel-Aviv with that of Cairo, Egypt having been the first Arab state to sign a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hailed “a further step in the warming of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt”. On March 21, 2022, the latter traveled to Egypt for a summit with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed. Since normalizing its relations with Bahrain and the Emirates in 2020, Israel has inaugurated direct flights with the latter country.

The diplomatic and tourist warming is also confirmed with Morocco. On March 13, 2021, a Royal Air Maroc (RAM) Boeing had connected, for the first time, Mohammed-V airport in Casablanca to David-Ben-Gurion international airport in Tel Aviv. The new Casablanca-Tel Aviv air route has been offered since the beginning of April by RAM at the rate of four frequencies per week before “quickly increase to five flights per week”specifies the Moroccan company.

The Israeli company El-Al offers a round trip between Tel Aviv and Marrakech four times a week.

This flight materializes the rapprochement between the two States, fifteen months after the Abraham Accords which, on December 10, 2020, marked the resumption of their official bilateral relations.

The number of Israeli tourists visiting Morocco is expected to increase from 50,000 to 200,000 after the launch of direct flights between Morocco and Israel.”

Moroccan Ministry of Tourism and Air Transport

In a press release

At the beginning of March, Othman Cherif Alami, who heads the tourist agency Atlas Voyages, assured Young Africa that 100,000 to 200,000 Israeli tourists could visit Morocco this year. “This new air link meets the expectations of the Moroccan community established in Israel, which maintains strong ties with its country of origin”said Royal Air Maroc in its press release.

There is also hope, the tourist sectors of Morocco and Egypt have been particularly weakened since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.