Nobody denies that Egypt is one of the leading countries in the Arab world in terms of tourism. Millions of tourists visit Egypt annually, despite the congestion it suffers from, notwithstanding the great efforts being made to establish more highways, commercial centres and entertainment zones to attract tourists and families.
The tourism sector represents about 15 per cent of Egypt's GDP and is an important source of hard currency.
Everyone knows that Egypt, like the rest of the tourist countries in the world, has suffered from the effects of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic during the past two years, which has led to a significant decline in aviation, tourism and hotel traffic. As a result, tourism institutions have accumulated debts. But the situation has improved over the last several months.
During the first half of 2022, Egypt witnessed a good recovery and hotel occupancy rates rose compared to the same period last year, with Cairo hotels reporting an improvement of more than 60 per cent, according to official data. Tourist inflows are expected to be stronger during the coming winter period, especially if global economic conditions improve and the Russian-Ukrainian war comes to a halt.
Egypt is working on reforms for issuing tourist visas and providing more facilities to attract tourists and foreign investments in construction and real estate projects despite the decline in the local currency of the Egyptian pound and the inflationary pressures resulting from global economic conditions.
More than a month ago, the Egyptian government launched a promotional tourism campaign within the framework of its strategy in the Arab market and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to attract tourists by presenting promotional films that talk about the most important Egyptian tourist destinations and components through artists, advertising channels, sites and social media platforms.
According to a local website, which specialises in tourism and travel affairs, Egypt ranked 9th in the world among the 17 most popular tourist destinations in the world in terms of culture, history, distinguished geographical location, entertainment and various marine activities. There are expectations of more travellers coming to Egypt during 2023, at a time when the tourist movement is currently tangible as a result of the increase in tourist demand and the resumption of air and tourism movement globally.
Today, it’s possible to obtain a tourist visa from various Egyptian access ports for about 180 nationalities who can enter this country for tourism – an important economic sector for the countries of the world in providing annual revenues in public budgets.
Egypt, among other countries of the world, is fervently hoping that the Russian-Ukrainian war comes to an end quickly. Russia and Ukraine, among other countries, have been important source markets for tourism in Egypt.
Meanwhile, the continuation of the war will increase the burden on countries in terms of access to foodstuff, notably grain, while high oil and gas prices high continue to have negative consequences for importing countries.
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