Tourist killed in Egypt shark attack

A German tourist has been killed in a shark attack in al-Qusair, Egypt.

The 52-year-old man had his leg bitten off at the knee, BBC News reported.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by an Oceanic Whitetip, although the shark has not yet been identified.

The attack marks the first first such incident in five years, when a spate of attacks took place, leading to one death.

Those attacks forced the closure of part of Sharm El-Sheikh for one week.

Al-Qusair hasn’t seen a shark attack of its type since 2009 that killed a French woman.

A spokesperson from the German embassy in Cairo said it had been made aware of the latest attack but could not comment.

While Egypt’s tourism has suffered since the peak of the Arab Spring in 2011, last year it enjoyed a partial recover, with a 23.6% increase in tourism revenues.

In 2014, the country also saw a 4.5% increase in tourist numbers, with 10 million arrivals compared to 9.55 million in 2013.

The inaugural forecast report released by Colliers International in January highlighted the re-emergence of Egypt as a regional powerhouse in the hospitality sector.

It anticipated 35% and 97% growth in RevPAR in Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh respectively.

Egypt will showcase tourism projects worth US$ 5.3 billion at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2015 as the tourism on the back of a 2014 recovery.