| Tourism |
 “The Gift of The Sun” With its ancient heritage, diverse landscapes, incredible underwater wonders and unique culture, it is no surprise that Egypt has long been a tourist hub attracting visitors from across the globe. To boost tourism, an essential part of the country’s economy, the Egyptian government continues to invest in a variety of initiatives. Substantial investment will be undertaken in touristic development under the latest five year development plan which commenced in 2007. By strengthening the international and domestic promotion of Egypt, diversifying the touristic offering to address tourist demands, developing eco-tourism and increasing the supply of touristic services, the Ministry of Tourism plan aims to double the number of tourists to reach 14 million by 2012, increasing visitor nights to 140 million and average stays to 10 nights. Efforts to increase awareness of Egypt as a tourist destination includes “The Gift of the Sun” global advertising campaign which commenced at the beginning of 2007, positioning Egypt as a year round holiday destination. In 2007, over 11 million people visited Egypt, an increase of 22.1% from 2006. In 2006, visitors to Egypt stayed an average of 9.8 nights and for a total of 89 million tourist nights over the period. The UK, Germany and Russia again provided the most visitors to Egypt in 2007. The June 2007 United Nations World Tourism Barometer, ranked Egypt as the 24th most popular country in terms of visitor numbers. FIGURE 1 Visitors to Egypt by Country 2006  The World Tourism Organisation 2020 Vision forecasts that Egypt will remain the region’s largest tourist receiving country, with over 17 million international tourist arrivals. Investment into tourism in Egypt is expected to reach EGP 44.5billion (approx US$ 7.87billion) in 2011/2012 compared to EGP 5.6billion in 2007/2008. The UK is the biggest source of visitors to Egypt (see Fig.1) and data shows that for the first six months of 2007, visitors from the UK totalled 530,923 an increase of 1.5% year-on-year. According to Amr el-Ezabi, chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority, the work to diversify the touristic offering has resulted in the Red Sea emerging as Egypt’s most popular destination. It has become more visited than traditional locations, including the Pyramids at Giza. In fact, Egyptian coastal resorts on the Red Sea, Sinai and the Mediterranean Sea attracted 70% of the 9 million visitors in 2006. El Gouna is the most highly regarded of Egypt’s resort towns and in 2006 attracted 224,213 tourists with total room nights of 1,341,494. Year on year, the first five months of 2007 showed a 23% increase in tourist visitors. A hotel occupancy rate of 83% was achieved in El Gouna in 2007. We anticipate the robust tourist market will continue to grow.    |
