On the morning of May 1, a bus with 40 tourists traveling on the route Sharm el-Sheikh - Cairo failed to negotiate a turn at high speed, ran off the road and overturned. As the investigation later established, the accident occurred due to speeding and driver fatigue, as the driver fell asleep at the wheel. The formal reason for revoking the company's license was that Azur did not inform either the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism or the tourist police in advance about the excursion program, which is a mandatory requirement under local legislation.
In addition, at an emergency meeting held last week, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism decided to tighten requirements for companies organizing excursions. In particular, all tourist buses must be equipped with electronic speed limiters (up to 100 km/h). Such an order will soon be received by every transport company from which travel agencies and excursion bureaus rent buses. If an excursion takes place on buses without speed limiters, its organizer will be stripped of their license. A bus with a speed limiter can be identified by information on the windshield.
After the May Day tragedy, Egyptian authorities decided to take a closer look at drivers of excursion buses as well. For example, the head of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism demanded that travel agencies submit a list of drivers working for them, who will be checked for reliability. If inspections reveal that any driver drives while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, or, for instance, likes to drive at high speed, they will be permanently stripped of their driving licenses and licenses to work in the excursion sector.
Strictly speaking, all these rules, except for speed limiters, were in effect in Egypt even before the tragedy, but enforcement was insufficiently strict. In the opinion of tour operators, this is the main problem in ensuring tourist safety in Egypt. The country's Ministry of Tourism, however, has promised to increase the number of unscheduled inspections of travel agencies and excursion buses. In addition, together with the Egyptian Ministry of Transport, it was decided to inspect tourist routes to identify dangerous sections.
Every year in Egypt, about 6,000 people die in road accidents, and more than 30,000 are injured or maimed. Among the main causes of traffic accidents, experts cite drivers' failure to comply with traffic rules, in particular speed limits, as well as poor technical condition of vehicles. Egypt receives about 10 million foreign tourists annually. The tourism sector brings about 20% of revenue to the Egyptian treasury.