Egypt’s tourism receipts were down 15% Y-o-Y in 2015 as a falling Russian rouble and escalating terrorist attacks took their toll on the sector, the country's Tourism Ministry announced on Tuesday. Egypt saw USD6.1 billion in tourism revenue last year, as the total number of tourists dropped 6% to 9.3 million and the total number of tourist nights declined 14%. The sector suffered a number of setbacks in 2015, including several terrorist attacks by Sinai-based militants affiliated with ISIS, culminating in the downing of a Russian airliner travelling from the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in October, which claimed 224 lives. Dozens of hotels have been forced to shut their doors in the resort towns of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada in the last two months, where occupancy rates have fallen to as low as 10-15%, Elhamy El-Zayat, Chairman of Egypt's Federation of Tourism Chambers (EFTC), told Ahram Online in a telephone interview. (ahramonline)