Tourism in Egypt is flourishing again. In the first quarter of the year, 37% more tourists arrived to the country. Past years were difficult for Egyptian tourism industry due to political insecurity as well as terrorist attacks.
According to Egyptian journalists, there have been no major attacks in the country recently. Security problems exist only in the north of the Sinai, but this region is not essential for Egyptian tourism. Security measures have been massively strengthened, especially at airports. Every travelers is checked two or three times before entering a tourist facility.
Russians Still Reluctant
After the shooting down of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt in 2015, in which 224 people were killed, bookings of Russian tourists declined rapidly. Meanwhile, Egypt tried to attract other groups of visitors. Especially in the Asian markets, the country has had success.
“When you visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Asian guests dominate there,” experts say. Russian tourists have not come back in masses yet, while European tourists avoided the destination and traveled to countries like Greece or Spain instead.
Still Far from Record Numbers
In 2010, just under 15 million tourists visited Egypt. In the first quarter of 2018, the inflow was 2.38 million, which represents an increase of 37% compared to last year. The revenues of the Egyptian tourism industry increased by 83% in this period to $2.2 billion, according to official data.
It will still take some time to return to the record numbers before political unrests began, but Egypt is starting to move in a way that could guarantee a high flow of tourists sooner rather than later.