São Paulo – Egypt posted US$ 3.4 billion in tourism revenues in quarter one this year, up 16.2% from quarter one 2012. During the period, the North African country received three million visitors, up 11.8% from quarter one last year. The information was released on the website of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV.
According to the site, prior to the popular uprising that overthrew the then-president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, the tourism industry accounted for over 10% of the country’s GDP.
In 2010, Egypt received 14.7 million visitors and obtained US$ 12.5 billion in revenues. In 2011, the Arab Spring caused tourist inflow to drop to 9.8 million, and revenues to decline to US$ 8.8 billion.
The Egyptian minister of Tourism, Hicham Zazou, told Al Jazeera that in the long run, the country is hoping to attract 30 million tourists a year, and post US$ 25 billion in revenues by the year 2022.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
