Egypt saw a significant rise in the number of tourists visiting the country in August, the most in the last three years, the country's Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said at the Al-Mal GTM money and finance conference on Tuesday. Tourists' numbers increased by 76.7 percent in August compared to the same period a year earlier, said Zaazou. According to Ahram Online calculations, this indicates that some 997,500 tourists visited the country in August. In July, several European countries 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. July also saw the election of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, with almost 97 percent of the vote, on the promise of achieving economic prosperity and political stability. The ailing tourism sector has suffered drastically since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Zaazou also said that the ministry launched a new advertising campaign with the Arabic logo "Wahashtoona" – which translates to "We've missed you" – to target tourists from Arab countries. The tourism ministry has budgeted $2.5 million for online advertisements through sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google plus, seen as the most effective way to reach potential tourists. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/112114.aspx
