Figures might be down, but the Egyptian tourism sector has shown some resilience to the economic downturn.
Revenue from tourism has fallen 3.1% in Egypt compared with last year’s takings, according to a report by news agency Reuters.
The figures revealed 11.45 million tourists visited Egypt in the first 11 months of 2009, down 3.4% from the same period a year ago, Tourism Ministry spokeswoman Omayma El Husseini said.
The figures were higher than expected according to tourism officials, however still represented a “negative figure at the end of the day” El Husseini noted.
Egypt is one of Africa’s largest and most diverse tourism markets and many of the country’s citizens rely on the industry to make a living.
The sector has been hit heavily by the global economic downturn with revenues down 13.2% for the first quarter of 2009, however the market has dug in and has began to show signs of improvement for the rest of the year.
| Advertisement |
The country’s minister of tourism, Zoheir Garranah, revealed that the tourism sector started the year down 17%, however this has “lessened” throughout the year.
“I think we'll see full recovery by the third quarter of 2010,” he predicted.
The optimism has been echoed by other industry professionals, while senior officials at the Ministry of Tourism revealed they have spent between US $40 and $60 million on marketing and promotion activities this year.
EFG Hermes analyst Daniyah Darwish told Reuters: “Tourism in Egypt proved to be more resilient than expected; tourists are staying for shorter periods and spending less, but they are still coming.”
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
