Alexandria's hotels' occupancy rate hits 98%: official

CAIRO - 3 January 2019: Ali El-Menestarely, head of Alexandria's Tourism Chamber, said that the occupancy rate of the governorate's hotels reached 98 percent, amid January celebrations.

In an interview with Egypt Today, Menestarely said that this includes all hotels in Alexandria, including Borg al-Arab hotels. He added that such rise in occupation rate will continue until the Coptic Christmas day which falls on January 7.

Alexandria currently has a total of 4,200 hotel rooms, Menestarely said, adding that this number is going to rise by the end of 2019, as new hotels are set to be opened.

The number of tourists visiting Egypt increased by 41 percent in the first half of 2018 to 5.061 million tourists, Reuters reported, while the tourism sector revenues increased by 77 percent in the same period to $4.791 million.

In September, Egypt ranked first among the most visited tourist destinations in Africa by Chinese tourists, according to the Chinese tourists network.

Also, Egypt has been announced as the fastest growing tourist destination in terms of year-on-year percentage increase of visitors, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)’s 2018 release on global travel and tourism.

The annual report showed that Egypt welcomed about 8.5 million tourists during 2017 with a 55.1 percent increase, compared to the same period of 2016.