Egyptian minister announces measures to restore tourism traffic

CAIRO – 27 April 2017: The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism has come to an agreement with one of the largest online booking sites to promote Egyptian tourist destinations in 27 countries worldwide, Tourism Minister Mohamed Yehia Rashed announced Wednesday.

On the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market 2017 in Dubai, Rashed affirmed his confidence in the restoration of Egyptian tourism. Several countries will be launching promotional campaigns in the coming weeks to boost tourism in Egypt, he said, according to a statement by the Ministry of Tourism.

Rashed emphasized the continuing efforts to enhance tourism rates, pointing out that the first quarter of 2017 recorded high figures and that indicators for the rest of the year predict further increases.

“Terrorism has hit some of the world's major countries in recent times, such as Paris, London, and Germany. But we always see that the well-known tourist destinations are recovering rapidly from crises, which is why we are very optimistic about tourism in Egypt,” Rashed said.

Rashed affirmed that visits from international celebrities, such as Will Smith’s visit earlier this month, mark the strongest evidence for the restoration of Egyptian tourism. He pointed out Pope Francis’s upcoming visit as “a message to reassure all tourists that Egypt is safe.”

The minister further announced opening new markets for tourism, for instance in India, stating that there are ongoing measures to organize flights from India to Egypt.

Prior to the January 25 Revolution in 2011, more than 14 million tourists visited Egypt every year. The number dropped to 9.3 million in 2015, and following the crash of a Russian plane in Sinai, tourist arrivals dropped by an additional 40 percent, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).