CAIRO – 8 April 2020: "Egypt's profit rate from the tourism sector reached $11 billion as of March 8, 2020," Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala al-Saeed said Tuesday.
Saeed emphasized in a statement the importance of the state's support to the tourism sector, as the rate of profit from this sector was expected to hit $16 billion by the end of 2020. “This number is considered the highest in the history of Egypt,” she noted.
In the same context, the minister said that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi directed to raise the efficiency of the tourist attractions' infrastructure, so that they are fully prepared to receive visitors from Egypt and the rest of the world as soon as the coronavirus crisis recedes.
Earlier, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anani said that Egypt supports the sector during the current crisis, pointing to adjourning the payment of the real estate tax imposed on factories and tourist facilities for three months and halting the administrative seizure against taxpayers, in return for 10 percent of the tax due on them.
He added that the number of tourists rose 4 percent in February 2020 on a year-on-year basis to 900,000 tourists, referring that suspending flights and the stoppage of tourism movement would cost the state up to $1 billion monthly.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s tourism sector recorded the highest level of revenues in history, reaching $13.03 billion in 2019, compared to 2010’s $12.5 billion and 2018’s $11.6 billion, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
CBE clarified that the total tourism revenues jumped 67 percent to reach $13.03 billion in 2019, compared to $7.8 billion in 2017, $2.5 billion in 2016 and $6.1 billion in 2015.
Wed, Apr. 8, 2020
