Cairo- The tourism sector in Egypt continued the process of escalating growth for the fourth year in a row, achieving new record levels confirming the gradual recovery and the increasing attractiveness of the Egyptian tourist destination.
Tourism revenues in Egypt during the year 2024 recorded a remarkable jump by 9% on an annual basis, achieving a record level of 15.3 billion dollars, in conjunction with the increase in the number of tourists by 5% to 15.7 million visitors.
Despite these positive numbers that reflect the recovery of the sector, observers still see that the huge tourism capabilities that Egypt abounds in unique archaeological purposes and a picturesque natural diversity, requires greater growth rates.
Egypt, with its unique monuments, stunning beaches and various landscapes, is one of the most eligible countries to attract larger numbers of tourists and achieve tourism revenues that exceed the current levels. With the approaching an exceptional event of an expected event on the third of next July, expectations are increasing to achieve a new boom in the tourism sector.
Egypt is preparing on this day to open the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is a unique global cultural edifice in its design and strategic location near the pyramids and the Sphinx Airport, to become a comprehensive tourist attraction and creates a qualitative shift in Egyptian tourism.
An ambitious plan and urgent questions
Despite Egypt’s ambition towards achieving 30 billion dollars annually by 2028 by attracting 30 million visitors, which represents the main pillar to enhance the tourism sector revenues, the question remains about the government’s ability to double the current numbers in just 3 years, especially in light of the continuous economic and global challenges.
Egypt’s ambitions seem less than the estimates of the “Fitch Solichins” Foundation, which expects the number of tourists to reach 16.8 million in 2025, an increase of 5.5% on an annual basis, and 18.8 million by 2028, with expected revenues of 17.4 billion dollars in 2025 and climb to 19.8 billion dollars in 2028.
Fitch’s expectations are based on the increase in demand from European and American markets, supported by investments in the hotel infrastructure, which is planned to reach about 1,800 establishments by 2028.
Strong growth inspires Egypt’s ambition
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt adopts an ambitious strategy aimed at advancing the tourism sector, and highlighting what the Egyptian tourist destination enjoys is incomparable in tourist products and patterns and has no equal, according to the Minister of Tourism Sherif Fathi.
The tourism sector witnessed strong growth during the first half of this year by 13.1%, which reflects the effectiveness of the government strategy in attracting more tourists and enhancing the tourism experience through improving services and infrastructure.
The importance of tourism for the Egyptian economy
Tourism is one of the main engines of Egyptian economic growth, an important source of hard currency and contributes significantly to GDP, and provides millions of direct and indirect jobs.
- Contribute to GDP: about 12%.
- Contributing to Egypt’s revenues from foreign currencies: about 15%.
- The third largest source of hard currency after exports and transfers of Egyptians working abroad.
- The number of workers in the tourism sector (direct and indirect): about 3 million.
- The percentage of workers in the tourism sector of the total labor force: about 10%.
Egypt is waiting for the most important tourist event
The former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Majdi Salim, expected that “tourism revenues continue to grow and at a faster pace with the exceptional (expected) event, which is the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Pyramids area in Giza Governorate next July, which is the most important tourist event in Egypt in recent decades.”
Speaking to Al -Jazeera Net, the tourist expert mortgaged the continuation of growth at a faster pace by adopting an integrated plan between the private sector and the government that depends on the following axes:
- Increase the number of hotel rooms to enhance revenue.
- Raise the level of service and employment level.
- Increasing modern propaganda that affects the marketing and tourism promotion plan.
- Optimistic exploitation of modern technology.
- Using artificial intelligence to improve tourist experience and intelligent promotion of tourist products.
- Providing an electronic application to facilitate access to various information.
The former Egyptian official praised the role of the private sector as one of the main engines of tourism flow, stressing that the levels of service provided by this sector are an important indication of performance efficiency.
Salim explained that the positive experience of tourists is directly reflected, as they turn into an effective propaganda that contributes to increasing tourism returns.
Unique ingredients and improps revenues
In turn, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Tourism Commodities and a member of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers, Ali Ghoneim, stressed that Egypt has unique tourism ingredients, especially in the field of antiquities through the ages. However, the current revenues of the sector are not commensurate with these unique ingredients that the country enjoys, and higher and largest income must be achieved, as he put it.
In exclusive statements to Al -Jazeera Net, Ghoneim – who also heads the Board of Directors of Moon River Tourism Company – explained that the current prices of tourist attractions, whether archaeological or beach, do not reflect their true value.
He pointed out that these prices are much less than their counterpart in neighboring countries, which do not have the tourist advantages enjoyed by Egypt.
Ghoneim stressed that the most important not only the number of arrivals tourists, but the size of the revenues achieved, attracting a fewer number of tourists with high spending can provide higher returns, which requires the pricing of the Egyptian tourist destination appropriately and targeting these groups, stressing the need to eliminate the phenomenon of selling at less than a fair price, because of its negative impact on the national income and the mental image of Egyptian tourism.
Despite this, the steady growth in the tourism sector in Egypt has already reflected positively on other economic and social aspects, according to Ghoneim, pointing out that the recovery of tourism contributed to supporting many sectors directly related to it, such as hotels that have witnessed an increase in occupancy rates, transport companies, and restaurants, in addition to the handicraft sector and traditional industries that have flourished with increased tourism turnout.
