South Sinai Governor Khaled Fodah said that tourist occupancy rates have reached 55 percent before the New Year, expecting that they would hit 65 percent on Sunday. Fodah said that occupancy rate in Taba and Nuweiba reached 50 percent on Friday. Taba has received 1,637 Israeli tourists on Friday. He clarified that the rates of occupancy in South Sinai strongly reduced during the current year if compared to the last year. He added that 100 thousand tourists spent Christmas celebrations in Sharm el-Sheikh. On the other hand, tourist expert Adel Shoukry stressed the necessity of achieving the political stability to restore the rates of tourism and investment.