Bloomberg: Tourism in Egypt Shoots up by 40% in 2018
According to Bloomberg, Egyptian Minister of Tourism, Rania Al-Mashat, said that the number of tourists to Egypt skyrocketed by 40% in the first nine months of this year, 2018. Al-Mashat told Bloomberg TV, “We expect that by the end of 2018 we will not be at the levels that we’ve seen in 2010, but we are approaching that.” Then adding, “The rebound is quite steep and we’re trying to put the industry on a competitive base compared to our peers.”
Ever since the Arab Spring and the political unrest that started in 2011, Egypt was facing a dramatic decline in the number of visiting tourists. The aftermath was an extremely hard thing to easily accept because tourism was one of the country’s main sources of income. It was not just the revolution or the political turmoil that came after, but even events such as the bombing of the Russian jetliner that left 224 passengers killed behind back in 2015 also had a huge negative impact.
In response to the current boom, the government is trying to act accordingly. Al-Mashat said that the new Grand Egyptian Museum that’s set to open in 2020 is even part of the country’s plan to revive tourism. The museum will host over 10,000 artifacts under its roof which will definitely attract more travelers.
Not just that, but the government also plans to announce a new private equity fund as an attempt to upgrade the country’s hotels, in addition to hunting down investment opportunities in the Red Sea islands. Moreover, the government is trying to diversify arriving tourists by targeting Asian and Latin American travelers as well.
