The Ministry of Tourism aims to attract 10 million tourists by the end of this year, while the tourism sector received 4.5 million tourists last year, a senior government official said.
All indicators of tourist flows during the first half of this year were very good compared to last year, which would increase spending rates by the end of December compared to last year, the official said on condition of anonymity.
He pointed out that promotional campaigns in the European markets are working hard, whether through marketing company GWT or foreign offices of the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA).
He explained that there is full coordination between all institutions operating in the sector, whether those owned by the state or by the private sector, including hotel management companies operating in Egypt and tourism organisations to increase the tourist inflow to Egypt this year.
The tourism sector has experienced a decline of 40% last year compared to 2015 after some European countries suspended their tourist trips to Egypt.
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Planning, the current fiscal year (FY) 2017/18 is expected to witness an increase in the number of visitors to Egypt up to 10.5 million compared to 6.5 million during the last fiscal year, with a growth of 61.5%.
The official added that the expected revenues in the current FY are estimated at $7.8bn compared to $4.8bn in the last year, with a growth of 62.5%, while the expected revenues of FY 2019/20 are $28.4bn.
According to the report, the expected tourist inflow in FY 2019/20 are 20 million tourists, mainly from Arab countries and new markets, whether in Europe or in Central, East, and South Asia.
According to the government official, the ministry is working in accordance with a marketing strategy based on old or new market studies, using the tourism indicators issued by the World Tourism Organization.
He added that the Ministry of Tourism monitors all changes in the spending average of tourists, their nationalities, and the targeted tourism patterns in the framework of the marketing process organised by the ministry during the current period.
He said that the Ministry of Tourism has developed a method that conforms to the standards of the World Tourism Organization in calculating the number of visitors to Egypt and revenues in coordination with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and the Passports and Immigration Authority. Egypt is the first country in the Middle East to follow this new system, he noted.
He pointed out that the estimated numbers released by the Ministry of Planning came in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
According to the report, the number of tourists coming from Europe will rise to 6 million, compared to 4.7 million in the last FY, while Arab tourism will rise to 2.6 million compared to 2 million tourists last year.
The Ministry of Tourism also hopes to increase the number of tourists coming from India, China, and Japan to 322,000 tourists compared to 248,000 last year.
According to the official, those Asian visitors are cultural tourists, and they spend more money compared to other tourists who only come for beaches, whether in the Red Sea or South Sinai.
He concluded that the government works on entering new markets in central Asia and North African countries in the coming period, pointing out that they are coordinating with the private sector regarding the North African countries, including Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.
