Red Sea holiday-makers face "no particular dangers" while ongoing attacks against cargo vessels by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen are a threat to shipping in the key trade route, according to Italy.
"There are no particular dangers for tourists in the upper Red Sea," foreign minister Antonio Tajani told public broadcaster Tg2 Italia Europa's news programme on Wednesday.
"The risks are for merchant ships," Tajani went on.
The European Union's recently launched Aspides mission to protect cargo ships in the region "has already shot down 3 Houthi drones and escorted about 40 merchant vessels from Suez to the Red Sea," Tajani stated.
"It (Aspides) is working and protecting ships and international trade," he underlined, while noting a 40 percent drop in ships transiting the Suez Canal due to the disruption caused by the Houthi attacks.
Commercial traffic through the Suez Canal represents an estimated 40% of Italy's total maritime trade.
"It's important that cargo ships don't get used to avoiding Suez by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), route that favours northern European ports and not our own," said Tajani.
