Sunny, hot days return to Egyptian tourism industry

It is one of the driest and hottest places on Earth, but for the past few years it is as though the Egyptian city of Aswan has been shrouded in a winter mist, cold-shouldered, like the rest of the country, by the world's tourists.

But on Feb 16 more than 250 Chinese Spring Festival holidaymakers flew into Aswan from Shanghai, a harbinger of better days for Egypt's battered tourism industry.

It was the first direct flight from China to Aswan, on the Nile River, and over the next few days the city welcomed more Chinese, from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. All were passengers on inaugural charter flights put on by the Egyptian airline Air Leisure, which says the flights were 90 percent full.