Tourists in Egypt urged to take caution

Tour operators and tourism companies have urged tourists travelling to Egypt to take precautionary measures if they are in or around the Sinai region of the country. The

announcement comes after -based Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis threatened tourists to leave the country by February 20th at the earliest.

“We didn’t get any new reservations in the past three days from our usual companies,” even though “it’s supposed to be the high season for tourism in Egypt,” Raymond Heshmat, reservation supervisor at the Taba Heights resort, told Al Arabiya News.

Security has been tightened in violence-prone regions of Egypt. Booking cancellations have been on the rise in recent times following the Sinai bomb attack.