São Paulo – Egypt welcomed 923,900 tourists in April this year, up 7.4% from 859,900 tourists in April 2014. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (Capmas) reported this Thursday (11th) that the majority of visitors were from Eastern Europe. The number of inbound Arab tourists also grew.
According to Capmas, 42.2% of foreign tourists in Egypt hailed from Eastern Europe, especially Russia. Western European tourists accounted for 34.3% of total visitors, and Middle Eastern travellers accounted for 12.3%.
Capmas also reported that Egypt saw an increase in number of Arab tourists in April, from North African and Middle Eastern countries. In April 2014, 15.8% of tourists were Arab; in April this year, they were 17.7%.
Tourist inflows to Egypt have been recovering since the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak, in 2011, in the wake of political protests. In 2010, the year with the best performance, Egypt had over 10 million tourists, grossing US$ 12.5 billion in the process.
In 2014, 9.9 million foreigners visited Egypt, an increase from 9.5 million in 2013. Last year, tourist revenues reached US$ 7.5 billion. The country is expecting to gross 20 million tourists and US$ 26 billion in 2020.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
