The number of tourists to Egypt rose by a whopping 193 percent last September compared to the same month in 2013, according to the latest official figures. Egypt welcomed nearly 884 thousand tourists from abroad in September, compared to the 301 thousand in the same period of the previous year, the Information and Decision Support Center reported. Tourism to Egypt has shown signs of recovery in recent months after three years of political turmoil and militant attacks dealt the sector a series of blows. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was elected last May on a mandate to restore security and stability to country in the midst of terrorist attacks on mostly police and military targets across the country. Tourist numbers recorded a 76.7 percent increase year-on-year in August, the sharpest rise in three years, after several European countries had announced the removal of travel bans imposed on Egypt in February, when a bomb blast on a tour bus in South Sinai killed three South Koreans and their Egyptian driver and raised concerns about safety in Red Sea resorts. September's figure represents an 11.4 percent fall compared to the numbers seen in August 2014, which had exceeded 997 thousand. The number of nights tourists spent in Egypt in September increased by some 704 percent, to register 8.8 million, compared to 1.9 million nights during the same month of the previous year. Tourists had spent a total of 11 million nights in the country in August 2014. Egypt's tourism sector is a vital source of national income, contributing some 11 percent of the country's gross national product. Egypt welcomed a total of some 4.7 million tourists in 2010, before the country's January 2011 revolution. By 2013 this number had shrunk to 9.5 million. Source: Ahram Online
