Middle East And US Visitors To Drive Egypt’s Tourism Recovery

Arrivals from the Middle East, North America and Africa will drive growth in Egypt’s tourism industry to 2021, according to the latest data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2018, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22-25.

Between 2018 and 2021, arrivals from North America will increase at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.9% to 318,844. Factors contributing to this growth include the cheaper Egyptian Pound and government incentives for charter airlines carrying a certain number of passengers on international flights.

Over the same period, visitor numbers from Africa will increase by 3.8% CAGR to more than 300,901, while arrivals from the Middle East are predicted to increase by 3% CAGR to over 1.34 million. This is in contrast to a projected 1.6% CAGR in European visitors, who have traditionally been the key source market for Egypt with 5.2 million arrivals in 2017.

Egypt’s tourism industry has witnessed a strong 12 months, with total arrivals up 33.3% 2016-2017, according to data published by Colliers International.

Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director, ATM, said: “The tourism industry in Egypt recorded a strong performance in 2017, welcoming 7.2 million visitors, predominantly from Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC, after many years of muted growth. This is great news for the country and we expect this trend to continue in 2018 as a series of new attractions and investments are unveiled.”

Taking advantage of this resurgence in tourists are some of Egypt’s most exclusive resorts from Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor and Cairo, with the Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh, the Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo, and Mövenpick Resort Sharm El Sheikh just some of the operators set to exhibit at ATM 2018.