Dutch tourists walk among the debris of cars burnt in the attacks that rocked the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)

Sharm el-Sheikh, July 24 (Reuters): With a flower in her hair, Austrian tourist Sandra Stiller is going against traffic at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, heading into the town as hundreds of others leave after bombs killed scores.

Yesterday’s attacks in the Red Sea resort were the worst in Egypt since 1981 and were expected to hit the lucrative Egyptian tourism industry. An official source in Sharm el-Sheikh said 88 people had died in the blasts, but health minister Mohamed Awad Tag el-Din told an Egyptian television that the toll was 63.

Hundreds of tourists packed their bags and left the country today on flights out of Sharm el-Sheikh airport. Some had henna tattoos on their arms while others carried water pipes bought as souvenirs.

Most left on regularly scheduled flights, although some went home early. The international arrival terminal was deserted for most of the morning.

In Naama Bay, a resort and shopping area, most of the lounge chairs on white sand overlooking the sea were unoccupied. A children’s playground was empty and beach volleyball courts were not in use.

But a brave few like 19-year-old Stiller trickled into the bomb-hit resort area, saying they were unwilling to change their plans despite the violence.

“I was really afraid because of the bombs, but my boyfriend was looking forward to the holiday,” Stiller said. “My mother is really worried.... But we have a hotel in the middle of nowhere.”

“I booked and paid,” said Wolfgang Payrich, another tourist who arrived from Austria on the same flight. “I have no fear because after one bomb, I hope there will not be a second. I hope one is enough.”

A spokesperson for the Egyptian tourism ministry said it was too early to tell how hard the attacks would hit tourism. At least one European tour operator, the German firm TUI, said it had stopped flights.

Egyptian police stepped up roadblocks around Sharm el-Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula and detained 35 people who might have information about the bombers.

President Hosni Mubarak yesterday said the attacks ? targeting a showpiece of Egypt’s tourism industry ? would only serve to stiffen his resolve to combat militants.

Workers at several luxury hotels have started installing metal posts to block cars from entering, and tourists said the measures made them feel safer.

“We are staying, but we will probably stay very close to the hotel,” said Karen Hodson, a British social worker, as she read a novel at the beach. “If you would have been in the hotel that blew up, of course you would go home.”

In Cairo, busloads of Western tourists descended on the Egyptian Museum as heavily armed police looked on. Sniffer dogs searched bags and tourists passed through metal detectors. An ambulance sat in the shade of the gardens.

“There is no way I am changing my schedule. Tonight we are sailing the Nile and we will have music and lights,” said Jesus Diaz, 56, a history teacher from Madrid who said one of his colleagues was killed in the Madrid 2004 bombings. “We lived through this in Madrid. You just have to go on.”

Marta Villa, from Barcelona, was philosophical. “We were in Sharm the night before, strolling the beach in the evening. We must have a guardian angel,” she said.