new delhi the egyptair hijack on tuesday could derail the slight recovery of tourism the land of pharaohs was witnessing from india ever since normalcy was restored there last year after a long period of instability and violence the episode has put a serious question mark on security at airports there and acts as a dampener for tourists planning a trip to the country egypt saw a record 11 lakh tourists from india in 2010 in january 2011 the country saw massive protests famously centred in cairos tahrir square for the dismissal of then president hosni mubarak the long period of uncertainty and violence in the country saw the number of indian tourists decline by almost half to 60000 in 2014over the last few years egypt has seen some difficulties that brought down tourist traffic from india between 2011 and 2014 however after egypt passed this hard time the figures from india jumped to 77000 tourists by end of 2015 272 rise from 2014 indians started to regain positive perception about egypt this has been reflected in the growth of demand on the tours to egypt egyptian tourism chancellor to india ismail a hamid told toi on tuesday will the egyptair hijack crisis affect this recovery now everybody knows it was not a real threat and that there was no terrorist on board which reflects by default that there was no security penetration i dont believe this could affect at all on the tourist flow to egypt hamid saidleading indian tour operators say egypt is not seen as a safe destination by many travellers here that entire region is seen as unstable and unsafe by indian holidayers however egypt is slightly different because of its unique attractions like the pyramids sphinx and alexandria these places have a huge draw and all big indian travel companies offer packages to the country which people sign up for during relatively peaceful times in egypt the hijack drama could revive those fears again said an official of a leading tour companyegypt is trying its best to win over indian tourists india is on the top of the list of the promising markets to egypt this importance is reflected in choosing mumbai as the regional office of the egyptian tourism board in the whole far east region hamid said he added not even a single indian tourist was hurt even during the unrest years amitabh bachchan visited egypt last april big names came to egypt because they know it is safe