Egypt tourist numbers jump 70 percent in third quarter despite Sinai insurgency

A total of 2.77 million tourists visited Egypt in the third quarter of 2013, official figures show, a jump of 70 percent compared to the same period last year despite an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai.

The figure brought the total number of visitors this year to 7.27 million up to the third quarter, welcome news in an industry hammered by three years of political turmoil.

At the same time a year ago, much of Egypt was under curfew and many foreign countries had issued travel warnings due to the army's removal of President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 and its crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters, when many hundreds were killed in one of the bloodiest periods of Egypt's modern historyAlthough political calm has for the most part returned to the country, the government faces a growing Islamist insurgency based mainly in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.