Egypt has 11.5K hospitality establishments worth LE182B: GAFI

CAIRO – 20 May 2024: Vice Chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Yasser Abbas stated Monday - at the Africa Tourism Forum hosted in Sharm El Sheikh – that the number of hospitality establishments in Egypt had amounted to 11,500 whose total value is LE182 billion.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities revealed in a statement in April that the number of hotel rooms - whether regular or floating - added during the first quarter of 2024 was 4,012 upping the total to 222,716.

Those include 1,503 rooms at 11 new hotels, 1,264 new rooms at existing hotels, and 1,245 reopened rooms at the governorates of Cairo, Red Sea, South Sinai, and Luxor.

A governmental source told Al Sharq earlier in the same month that the number of international tourists rose by almost four percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in the previous year recording 3.7 million; yet, the figure for Sharm El Sheikh fell by 20 percent.

In 2023, the figure of international tourists to Egypt jumped by 27.4 percent hitting 14.9 million, which is the highest in the country's history.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Eissa stated in February that despite the outbreak of the war in Gaza Strip in October, Egypt received 3.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. That is an eight-percent increase in comparison to the same period in 2022. 

Minister Eissa stated in January that the country accomplished the highest number of tourist arrivals in 2023 and that is 14.906 million. The second highest figure took place in 2010 with 14.731 million visitors.

The occupancy rate during the first three months of 2024 was 54,78 percent growing by eight percent compared to the same period in 2023 which recorded a rate of 47.2 percent.