Cairo: Egyptian authorities are investigating officials of a local restaurant for denying a Saudi man entry for being clad in the traditional flowing attire, Tourism Minister Khaled Rami said.
A video went viral online earlier this week showing what appears to be an attendant at the restaurant in the Shaikh Zayed town west of Cairo arguing with the Saudi man and two escorts dressed in Western-style clothes.
The restaurant officials refused to allow the Saudi man and his family to enter the place for violating the place’s dress code, local media reported.
“There will be no leniency with the management of the restaurant,” Rami was quoted as saying during a meeting on Thursday with the Saudi visitors.
“This is an isolated act, which does not at all reflect Egyptians’ way of welcoming Arab brothers.”
Local newspapers on Friday carried a picture of the minister welcoming at his office the Saudi man, identified as Ghaleb Hazaa.
The minister expressed his “deep sorrow” to him, saying that “such accidental acts” will not affect the “deeply rooted” ties between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
“The ministry does not allow any infringements from any tourism installation against tourists,” Rami said.
Private newspaper Al Watan quoted tourism official Abdul Fattah Al Asai as saying that the ministry closed the restaurant for a month and requested its manager to offer an apology to the Saudi man and his family.
Egypt has in recent months stepped up efforts to revive its tourism industry, a main foreign currency earner, battered by four years of unrest after the 2011 uprising.
Egypt will launch a campaign later this month aimed at attracting Arab holidaymakers in summer, which used to be a peak season for Arab visitors to the country.
