GCC tourism spend in Egypt will increase by 11% in 2020 generating $2.36 bn

GCC tourists to Egypt will spend $2.36 billion in 2020, an increase of 11 per cent over 2019, with visitors from Saudi Arabia driving this growth, according to new data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2020, which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 19-22, 2020. Visitors from Saudi Arabia to Egypt made 1,410 trips in 2019 with a forecast of 1.8 million tourists by 2024, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5 per cent. In terms of tourism expenditure, Saudi Arabian visitors spent $633 million in 2019 which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent through to 2024, reaching $1.13 billion, according to Colliers International research commissioned by the organiser of ATM, Reed Travel Exhibitions.

Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said, “Total tourism receipts in Egypt which stood at $16.4 billion in 2019, will achieve an average 13 per cent CAGR over the next five years to reach $29.7 billion. And Egypt also has a significant outbound market for the GCC. 1.84 million visitors arrived in 2019 and this is estimated to increase to 2.64 million by 2024.”

“Over the last 12 months, Egypt’s tourism industry has witnessed remarkable growth, with arrivals up by 57.5 per cent from 11.3 million in 2018 to 17.8 million in 2019. Growth has been fuelled by the cheaper Egyptian Pound and government incentives for charter airlines operating international flights. Underscoring those impressive numbers, we witnessed a 23 per cent increase in the number of visitors interested in doing business with Egypt, up to almost 4,000,” added Curtis.