Egyptian tourism arrivals increased about 34 percent during the last two months, Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Issa told CNBC Arabia on Monday, stressing that the tourism sector was able to return to pre-current geopolitical crisis rates. Issa added that the last period witnessed a significant decline in the number of Russian and Ukrainian tourists due to the ongoing war, as the number of Ukrainian tourists decreased by 80 percent and Russian tourists by 40 percent. Egypt targets a growth rate in the number of tourists ranging from 25 percent to 30 percent annually, in order to reach 30 million tourists by 2028, Issa stated, reaching this goal requires building more hotel rooms. Issa continued that Egypt needs to double the number of current rooms from about 212,000 rooms to more than 500,000 rooms, with huge investments exceeding $30 billion. North African country has already requested from a group of local and foreign investors to establish more rooms and tourist facilities, as 60,000 hotel rooms were licensed under construction.
