ISIS attack on Sharm El Sheikh in 2015 that killed 224 has turned the Egyptian resort into a ghost town surrounded by a ring of steel
EGYPTIAN resort Sharm El Sheikh, the once bustling holiday paradise that attracted thousands of Brits a year, now looks like a ghost town.
The Red Sea resort is surrounded by a ring of steel after a suspected ISIS terror attack in 2015 killed all 224 people on board a passenger jet.
SunOnline has a man on the ground to investigate just how safe the once-thriving holiday spot is now.
Some Brits living in Sharm El Sheikh are calling on the Foreign Office to scrap the flight ban and allow UK tourists to return to the resort.
They insist the resort, filled with abandoned beaches, half-empty hotels and struggling businesses, is now “safer than London” after security was beefed up at the airport.
The British government currently advises against all travel to Sharm El Sheikh by plane since an Egypt Air jet fell from the sky killing 224 people in 2015.
Russia and Western countries have long said that they believe the flight was brought down by a bomb smuggled on board.
But Egypt has so far publicly said it has not found any evidence of foul play.
The fatal crash caused countries including the UK to suspend flights to Sharm El Sheikh airport amid fears that lax security at the terminal might put British lives at risk.
The move signalled another nail in the coffin for Egypt’s struggling tourism industry, which has already taken a hammering since the 2011 uprising against former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Two years on and Sharm El Sheikh - dubbed ‘Fortress Sharm’ by locals – is surrounded by a ring of steel.
Police officers carrying weapons paid for by US military aid check every vehicle entering and leaving the resort while cops check IDs and bags at all entry and exit points to the city’s tourist areas.
The stringent security measures and spotless streets seem like the perfect holiday hotspot but still British tourists stay away.
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The empty streets and abandoned beaches of Sharm El Sheikh stand in stark contrast to the resort which was packed in its hey-day.
At its peak, Sharm el-Sheikh was the most popular tourist resort in Egypt and a keystone for UK tour companies.
In 2012 and 2013, Thomas Cook was selling around 300,000 Egyptian package holidays to Brits, with many of those heading to Sharm.
That number shrank to around 200,000 in 2014 and 2015 as people began to get nervous about visiting the North African holiday destinations.
The Union Tavern in Naama Bay was once the most popular British pub in the resort but today, the bar is kept alive by just a handful of UK expats.
Manager Waleed Ahmed, 40, said: “For two years now, we’ve had almost no business. I love the British people, we are ready for them to come back.
“I’ve had a lot of offers from people asking me to change the bar from a British pub to a business targeting tourists from elsewhere.
“But I’ve declined because I love the friendly British tourists so much.”
His views are echoed by locals in the bar as they sit watching a slideshow of photos from the boozer’s hey day when thousands of Brits flocked here in search of a home from home.
Paul Winkworth, 45, from London is a diving instructor at the resort’s Red Sea Diving College and has lived in Sharm for the past 15 years.
He said: “We’re struggling purely because the British government are not allowing the flights to come back here.
“I feel safer in Sharm El Sheikh that I would in London without a doubt. This is a tourist town, built for tourists and secured for tourism with one road in and one road out.
“Sharm is as safe as anywhere in the world. In the past there were issues at the airport but security has improved by 1000 percent.
“If attacks happen in Brussels or Paris, the British government doesn’t stop flights to these destinations so it’s a disgrace that they’ve stopped the flights to Sharm.”
Officials claim that security has been beefed up at Sharm el Sheikh airport.
One senior official said: “All of the staff now undergo screening including biometric checks.
“Employees and their families have been investigated for links to extremism.
“The security at Sharm is as tight as any airport in the world.”
Security teams at the airport are UK trained and British officials have performed detailed inspections at the site in recent months.
A number of British tour operators are once again selling package holidays to Sharm El Sheikh in the hope that the government might ease flight restrictions ahead of this year’s winter season.
However, Thomas Cook has announced their decision to backtrack on the move until the British government's travel advice is changed.
Despite the ban on direct flights from Britain some UK tourists are opting to fly to the resort from other countries.
Anna Smith, 29, moved to Sharm in December last year after holidaying at the resort since 2009.
She said: “This feels like home more than anywhere else in the world. The people are the most amazing people you could ever meet.
“They treat you like you are one of their own. I feel safer here than I definitely feel safer here than I would in the UK.
“It’s just amazing here - the best place in the world.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We will continue working with the Egyptian Authorities to enable regular flights between the UK and Sharm el Sheikh to resume.
“We are also liaising with travel companies so that they are able to resume flights and holidays in Sharm el Sheikh as soon as appropriate security arrangements are in place.”
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In recent years the country has been rife with political turmoil, violent protests and terrorism attacks.
The number of tourists visiting has decreased dramatically following the revolution, attacks on foreign journalists and government advice not to go there.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice is against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh after a flight from Sharm el Sheikh to St Petersburg crashed in North Sinai.
There is no FCO advice against travel to Cairo, Alexandria, the tourist areas along the Nile river (including Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings) and the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada.