(By Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) - MILAN, FEBRUARY 11 - With tension still high between Rome and Cairo after the discovery of the tortured body in a Cairene suburb of young Friuli researcher Giulio Regeni, promoting tourism to Egypt in Italy today seems more difficult than ever, if not impossible.

Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou evidently acknowledged this Wednesday when with a terse press statement he announced the cancellation of his scheduled visit to the Milan BIT tourism fair and a scheduled press conference at the Hotel Principe di Savoia due to "pressing institutional commitments".

The atmosphere was very low profile and understated at the Egypt stand at the fair in Rho where the fair opened Wednesday and is due to continue to February 13.

The Egyptian delegation that arrived in the Lombardy capital Wednesday evening headed by the chief of the international tourism division of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, Mohammed El Gabbar, decided however to confirm a cocktail reception planned for Thursday evening.

The minister had been due to talk about security measures adopted in several tourist resorts and at Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh airports as well as about promotional campaigns launched recently.

According to Egyptian tourism sources, the volume of arrivals in Egypt after the crash of a Russian jetliner October 31 already were alarming but "in this last week the situation worsened further".

"Tour operator have told us they can't sell Egypt as a destination", they add. For this reason also the meeting Thursday evening will be aimed at listening to tour operators and trying to determine if there is a margin to improve the situation in extremis. From last Saturday until Thursday there have been barely 1000 Italians in the Red Sea area.

"We are in low season," the sources point out.

Nevertheless as few as 208 Italians registered at Sharm El Sheikh while there are just 800 at Marsa Alam circa 800. "Just over 1000 compared to 12,629 in December 2015 and 34,404 in the same month 2014 - a drop of 63%".

Two Italian athletes, former Olympic swimming champion Massimiliano Rosolino and cycling ace Alessandro Bartolino, were due to attend the meeting Thursday evening to promote Sharm El Sheikh.

It remains to be seen how far it is realistic at the moment to restore the Italian public's faith in the destination and above all in Egyptian institutions. It is easy to hear people among the stands of the Milan fair saying "I won't be going back to Egypt on principle".

This attitude is likely to prevail at least until the truth comes out about the barbaric assassination of the Italian scholar. (ANSAmed).