Arab Tourism to Egypt accounts for 36.3% of total traffic

Travellers from Arab countries account for more than one third of the total tourist traffic to Egypt in 2016, and forecasts for 2017 are positive and are in continuous growth. H.E. Yehia Rashed, Minister of Tourism in Egypt, said: “Arab tourism to Egypt in 2016 represented 36.3 percent of the total tourist traffic to Egypt, which is more than one third of the total traffic. Saudi Arabia ranked first amongst incoming Arab tourists, with a total of 507 thousand tourists visiting Egypt, followed by Jordan, with 180 thousand tourists, and Kuwait with about 150 thousand tourists and Lebanon with nearly 86 thousand. The total number of travelers from Arab countries to Egypt reached 2 million tourists in 2016, compared to 1.7 million Arab tourists in 2015, which marks an increase of 13.2 percent, whereas in the first quarter of 2017, the number of Arab tourists increased by 38.8 percent when compared to the same period last year.”
The Ministry of Tourism of Egypt and Egyptian Tourism Authority announced their participation at the Arabian Travel Market, taking place in Dubai from April 24-27. The participation is in line with both of their efforts to highlight Egypt’s enormous tourism potential and focuses on the various destinations that attracts tourists from all over the world, especially Arabs.
“Our participation at the Arabian Travel Markets primarily aims at engaging and communicating effectively with our partners and stakeholders in the region and to enhance the efforts to attract Arab tourists to Egypt. The Arab market represents one of the most significant markets exporting tourism to Egypt. This is due to several reasons, most importantly because of the proximity to many Arab countries and similarity of the language and traditions, which allows Arabs to feel like they’re in their second home when in Egypt,” H.E. Rashed added.
“Egypt is always keen to take steps to encourage and attract tourists from Arab countries, whether it is through facilitating entry and visa procedures or encouraging airlines from Arab countries to schedule regular flights,” said H.E Rashed, He added, “We are currently working on facilitating entry visas to domestic helpers that usually accompany guests from the GCC counties, in addition to introducing group tourist visas from our guests and travelers from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia”.
H.E reiterated: “The recent visits of international celebrities and of course the planned visit the Vatican’s Pope Francis this April 28-29 are the biggest evidence of the world’s confidence in Egypt, and its historical and cultural positioning. We are very confident and optimistic about the tourism traffic to Egypt in the coming period.”