Egypt’s tourism is witnessing a remarkable improvement as the tourist arrival rate is approaching its peak, Minister of Tourism Rania Al-Mashat stated in a press statement on Friday.
Al-Mashat added that these figures confirm Egypt’s position as a world leader in the international tourism.
The minister’s remarks came during an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of her participation in the World Economic Forum on the impact of sustainable development.
The tourism sector in Egypt suffered a downturn since the 2011 Revolution, and the sector in Egypt suffered another devastating blow when a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai in late October 2015 with no survivors. However, since 2018, the sector began to revive, regaining its position once more.
During the interview, Al-Mashat stressed the importance of the tourism sector in the Egyptian economy, which represents more than 15% of Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP), and contributes to the creation of jobs and positively affects the lives of local communities.
The minister pointed to Egypt’s Tourism Reform program (E-TRP) launched last November, stating that the ministry has formulated a unified vision for the sector in cooperation with all relevant parties from the government and the private sector, which represents 98% of the tourism sector in Egypt.
“The trends of tourists are changing, tourists come to Egypt not only to visit the archaeological areas, but to also get to know the local communities in the places they visit and consider this as part of their tourist experience,” Al-Mashat said.
Following new trends in tourism, the ministry has invited and hosted a number of bloggers and influencers on social networking sites and specialists in tourism and travel from various continents of the world to Egypt from 19 to 27 September to publish pictures and write about their experience in Egypt.
At the end of the trip, the ministry held the forum of bloggers and influencers in the field of tourism to display the photos and videos they published during this week, and their experience in Egypt on Friday.
Egypt celebrated the World Tourism Day on 27 September by holding the international forum of bloggers and influencers in the field of tourism.
