Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.1 / Trend U. Ismaylova /
Azerbaijani tourist companies have suspended organizing tours to Egypt because of the unrest in the country in recent days.
Dervish Travel, Elite Travel, Euroturizm Travel, and Improtex Travel have stated that they are not providing tourist vouchers to Egypt.
"Companies will not organize tours to this country, so as not to endanger Azerbaijani citizens," the companies said.
The tour operators also are not considering the possibility of organizing charter flights to Egypt, which are carried out annually on the spring holiday Novruz.
"Usually, Azerbaijani tourists buy tickets to Egypt during the March holidays, as they are cheaper. Tours during the remaining months of the year are much more expensive," the tourism companies said.
The Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry has recommended local tourist companies not to organize tourist trips to Egypt in connection with the riots that are occurring in the country on Monday. According to the ministry, 207 tourism companies operate in the country.
At present, there are no Azerbaijani tourists in Egypt, head of the Azerbaijani Association of Tourism Nahid Bagirov told Trend earlier.
"The association has conducted a survey among tourism companies, as a result of which it was found that now there are no tourists from Azerbaijan in Egypt," Bagirov said.
AZAL transported roughly 60 Azerbaijani citizens and the body of a deceased employee of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Egypt, Nijat Hojayev, from Cairo. The plane flew from Baku on Sunday afternoon, AZAL told Trend earlier.
The embassy said that the employees of the Azerbaijani embassy in Cairo, their families, citizens studying in Egypt, as well as Azerbaijanis who live and work in this country, are among the evacuated people.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev instructed the relevant bodies to urgently evacuate Azerbaiajni citizens temporarily living and studying in Egypt due to the recent events in the country, official representative of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Elkhan Polukhov said earlier.
The employee of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Egypt died on Saturday as a result of the riots in this country.
The manifestations with the requirements of conducting economic and political reforms and the resignation of 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak ruling the country for 30 years were launched in Egypt on Jan. 25. On Friday, mass protests continued in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Roughly 150 people died; more than 4,000 were injured.