The Ministry of Tourism has asked tourism companies to organise 12 music concerts in 2016 to their promotional programmes for Arab countries.
According to statement by the Ministry of Tourism sent to Egyptian Travel Agents Association (ETAA), tourism companies were asked to promote the concerts in Arab markets to increase the flow of Arab tourists to Egypt by the end of this year.
Tourism from Arab countries is very promising, having achieved over 20% growth in Egypt in 2015, said Vice Chairman of Egyptian Tourism Federation Nasser Tork.
According to Tork, tourism from Arab countries allowed Cairo hotels to achieve growth and register occupancy rates exceeding 60% in 2015.
Greater Cairo has a total hotel occupancy of approximately 30,000, most of which are in downtown and West of the city.
Egypt’s tourism income retreated to $6.3bn in 2015 compared to $7.3bn in 2014.
According to Tork, Cairo and Alexandria are the most prominent tourism destinations for tourists from Arabs countries.
Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou previously told Daily News Egypt that flights were organised to operate to travel from Algeria and Morocco to Egypt, an attempt to increase the travel between the countries.
Meanwhile, the tourism programmes targeting Egyptians abroad are ongoing, said Zaazou, adding that the ministry is focusing on increasing hotel occupancy rates.
A total of 9.3 million tourists visited Egypt in 2015, 600,000 fewer than 2014. Tourists from Arab countries constituted approximately 17% of the total tourists who visited Egypt in 2015.
The Ministry of Tourism is hoping to attract 2.5 million tourists from Arab countries to Egypt in 2016, according to Zaazou.
