Egypt’s tourism revenues rise 170 percent: official

Cairo – Egypt’s tourism revenues jumped by 170 percent in the first seven months of 2017, reaching $3.5 billion, a government official told Reuters, in welcome news for an economy heavily reliant on the sector for foreign currency and jobs.

The number of tourists visiting Egypt rose by 54 percent in the same seven-month period on an annual basis to reach 4.3 million, he said, attributing the increase to visitors from Germany and Ukraine.

That number is still well below the 14.7 million who visited Egypt in 2010, ahead of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak and ushered in a prolonged period of political and social upheaval.

Europeans made up 75 percent of visitors while Arabs made up 20 percent, said the official, who asked not to be named.

Egypt hopes the number of tourists will reach 8 million in the whole of 2017, up from 4.5 million last year, he added.