Stable Egypt ready to welcome more tourists: Forbes

CAIRO – 24 July 2018: International media outlets have begun to redirect their countries' attention to Egypt once again. The popular Forbes magazine published a report on Saturday, hailing the Egyptian tourism status and manifesting dozens of reasons why Egypt tops tourism destinations in 2018.

Freelance traveler Allison Diliengro wrote in the Forbes about her experience during her latest trip to Egypt. She paid a visit to "the cradle of Civilization", as she described the country, in April to spend the spring, amid fears that her expectations were "too high."

Allison extolled the capital city of Cairo and its "passionate residents", and narrated the story of the popular January 25, 2011 Revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, the matter which affected tourism. "Today, the country is stable and ready to welcome travelers back," Allison noted.

Eight years ago, more than 14.7 million tourists arrived in Egypt, while Paris attracted only 8.2 visitors in the same year of 2010.

In 2015, the tourism industry witnessed another hit when a Russian plane was shot in the Sinai Peninsula in a terrorist attack claimed to be carried out by ISIS elements. As a result, the tourism flow fell to its lowest number to reach only 4.8 million.

Three years later, the Russian flights to Egypt resumed and the country restored its peace and order. Indications reveal that Egypt will welcome more than 8.3 million visitors in the current year.

Alison sang the praises of affordable hotels and accommodation costs in Egypt. "Five-star hotel rooms cost as little as $200 per night," she added.

She also paid a snap visit to the Upper city of Aswan where she went to the Elephantine Island with her husband and enjoyed her "favorite view in Egypt."

Egypt has been trying to tighten its finances and draw back investors and tourists who bring a huge amount of foreign currency to the country's treasury which has been tied to a three-year $12 billion IMF loan programme since late 2016.

The data showed that tourism revenues rose to $2.27 billion in the first quarter of 2018, from $1.256 billion in the same quarter a year ago, Reuters reported in April. Expatriate remittances increased to $6.46 billion from $5.78 billion.

Rania al-Mashat, minister of tourism, said that the number of tourists visiting Egypt has jumped by 30 percent during Q1 of 2018, compared to 2017. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that the country has received at least 730,000 tourists in February 2018, achieving a 35 percent increase, compared to the same month of the previous year.

Meanwhile, a report recently released by STR global said that Egypt’s hotel occupancy rate for Q1 of the 2018-2019 fiscal year was at its highest since 2010. The report stated that the increase in occupancy rates hiked by 21.2 percent to reach 60.1 percent in Q1, with an increase in the average daily rate bringing in LE 1,292.

Tourists’ flow to Egypt has resumed and Egypt has restored its leading position again as the best tourism destination in the region, according to the French pioneering travel magazine TourMaG on Thursday.

Few days ago, a 20-year-old French magazine revealed the percentage of French tourists visiting Egypt in 2018 alone has increased to 146 percent. “Tourists no longer prefer going to Tunisia or Turkey only; Egypt is back in the competition again after years of instability,” the magazine added.

TourMaG revealed that “600,000 French tourists visited the land of the Pharaohs in 2010. But six years later, only 70,000 paid touristic visits to Egypt in 2016.”

“This increase in tourists’ numbers visiting Egypt is an outcome of the restoration of security, order and safety of travelers,” TourMaG explained.

One year ago, exactly on July 15, 2017, French Ambassador to Egypt Stephane Roumtier said in a press conference in Alexandria that “Egypt will witness an increase in the number of French tourists received in 2017.”