Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Egyptian Tourism
The Egyptian tourism industry is back on track, with total arrivals in the past 12 months up 33.3% from 2016 to 2017.
The data, published by Colliers International, was released ahead of the Arabian Travel Market 2018, set to take place this year in Dubai from April 22-25. It is the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry for the last 25 years.
Egypt, in particular, will be of major interest at this year’s show, with reports of projected growth across the board. Between 2018 and 2021, arrivals from North America will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9% to 318,844. Driving this growth will be the cheaper Egyptian pound as well as government incentives for charter airlines carrying passengers on international flights.
Over the same period, visitor arrivals from Africa are also expected to grow, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.8%, to more than 300,901. Arrivals from the Middle East are expected to increase by 3% at compound annual growth rates, to over 1.34 million.
In contrast, European visitors, who’ve traditionally been the key source market for Egypt, are projected to have a 1.6% compound annual growth rate. In 2017, there were 5.2 million European arrivals.
The expected resurgence in visitors from North America, Africa and the Middle East will see both leisure and corporate travel in Egypt increase over the next four years. In anticipation, Egypt signed a three-year, US$66 million contract with advertising J. Walter Thompson to create promotional campaigns for 27 source markets. Moreover, major hotel companies have confirmed development projects, including Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria, Starwood’s St Regis and Swiss brand Mövenpick.
Tourism is one of the most important sectors in Egypt’s economy. More than 12.8 million tourists visited Egypt in 2008, providing revenues of nearly $11 billion. In 2009, the sector employed about 12 percent of Egypt’s workforce.[1]
In 2016, the minister of tourism expressed his concern and optimism about tourists returning to Egypt despite the downing of a Russian flight in 2015. The minister has said “we are all in this together” referring to terrorism that hurts a country’s tourism industry.[2][3][4]
In 2018 the UAE Minister of Happiness met with the Egyptian Minister of Tourism to discuss the philosophy of making tourists happy.[5]
In May 2018, the last chariot belonging to King Tut was escorted with a parade to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). It is hoped that the investment in this new museum will stimulate more tourism to Egypt.
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Nile cruise passengers have also been rising steadily over the last few years so maybe this is the time for you to take that special trip?
