The Tel Aviv embassy in Cairo: 700,000 Israelis visited Egypt in 2019

Egypt, and especially the Sinai Peninsula, is one of the favorite destinations for the Israelis. Seven hundred thousand Israelis visited it in 2019, and they received a great welcome.

This is what the Israeli embassy in Cairo announced through its official account on Facebook a few days ago, and the local media ignored its reference.

The embassy said in its publication, "According to official statistics, more than 701 thousand and 967 Israelis visited Egypt in 2019," considering that this "indicates admiration and a sense of security and safety, and also expresses the extent of warm welcome, along with generous hospitality and good treatment."

A week ago, the official page of the Arab-speaking Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Israeli tourists are "merging" with the Egyptian people, and that their number is estimated at hundreds of thousands annually.

The page "Israel in Arabic" - via Twitter - stated that Egypt "is an attractive tourist destination, as it is visited by hundreds of thousands of Israeli tourists annually, and they enjoy tourist resorts, visit ancient Pharaonic monuments, and merge into the Arab atmosphere."

It quoted those whom it described as an Israeli tourist who did not mention its name, its claim that "all the people in Egypt who knew what country we came from welcomed us warmly."

The official Israeli page directed at the Arab public was keen to show the image of the Egyptian national flag next to the Israeli, in a sign of support from Tel Aviv to improve Cairo's efforts to attract more tourists.

In September 2019, the population of Israel exceeded, for the first time in its history, the ceiling of nine million people, according to a statement by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

And last year, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation "Kan" published a report confirming that the rate of tourism to Egypt from Israel increased fivefold during the last period.

According to the report, there are thousands of Israelis visiting Cairo with a guided tour of organized or independent trips, praising the tourist attractions, museums and street vendors.

In contrast to official political and economic relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv, these relations face great rejection at the Egyptian public and trade union levels for many years.

A poll prepared by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth - on the occasion of the forty-year anniversary of the peace agreement with Egypt - revealed that most Egyptians reject Israel, despite the existence of diplomatic ties.