Egypt targets tourism investments of about EGP 7.4 billion in the fiscal year 2022/2023, compared to EGP 6.2 billion in 2021/22, a growth of 19.4 percent, according to Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said.
El-Said made the remarks in a report issued by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development on Egypt's plan for investments in the tourism and antiquities sector – a main source of hard currency for the country – for the current fiscal year, which ends in June next year.
The report stressed that tourism is a dynamic and flexible sector that is able to recover within a short period, the minister said, citing the sector’s growth achieved in 2021 following the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The report added that the number of tourists jumped from 3.7 million in 2020 to about 8 million in 2021, and the number of overnight stays at tourist accommodations increased from 43 million nights in 2020 to 93.8 million in the following year.
This generated around $9 billion in revenue in 2021, up from $4.1 billion in 2020, the ministry’s report pointed out.
Egypt has been exerting efforts to help the sector recover from the coronavirus pandemic and the war between Ukraine and Russia, both of whom have been the main exporters of tourists to Egypt in recent years.
Earlier in November, Egypt announced that it would give holders of the Hayya Card for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar the permission to enter Egypt without a visa to encourage tourism.
Egypt plans to stimulate inbound tourism and increase foreign tourist arrivals from 25 to 30 percent annually, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa said in September.
Sun, Dec. 11, 2022
