Despite its geographical closeness to Egypt, the percentage of GCC tourists visiting Egypt compared to the total number of tourist has not exceeded 20% in any given month in 2014. In January 2014, the number of Arab tourists visiting Egypt was approximately 101,000. This number decreased in February to register around 86,000, then increased again in March to reach 110,000. Through the first three month of 2014, the percentage of Arab tourists recorded 15.9%, 14.1% and 15.8%, respectively. In April and May, the number of Arab tourists reached an average of 120,000 with the percentage compared to the total number of tourists ranging between 14.4% and 16.3%. A minimal increase was noticed in June with the number rising to 140,000, representing around 19.1% of the total tourists. Arab tourists represented 14.8% of the total visiting tourists with 13,000 in July. In August 2014, a Ministry of Tourism official said the ministry is aiming to raise the incoming GCC tourist traffic to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada through the end of that month. The ministry was targeting a raise in tourism traffic from the GCC by 20%. The Ministry of Tourism plans to increase flights between Sharm El-Sheikh and Jeddah from three to five flights weekly, to increase traffic to Egyptian tourist resort areas, the ministry official said. Direct flights between Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait to the two cities are meant to increase visitors from the Gulf, he added. The highest number of visiting Arab tourists was recorded in August with 195,000, which contributed to 19.6%. The second highest number of Arab tourists in Egypt was registered in September with 167,000. The rest of the year witnessed less Arab tourists with 162,000, 121,000 and 141,000 visiting in October, November and December. In total, some 1.6m Arab tourist visited Egypt in 2014, increasing by 16% compared to the preceding year. The Egyptian government is expecting this figure to is hoping to increase this figure by 20% during the coming period. According to the Ministry of Tourism's sub-accounts unit, Saudi tourists were the biggest spenders during 2014, spending $131.5 per night. No other Arabian nationality placed in the top five spenders list, however. The Egyptian government has been trying to improve the performance of the tourism sector in general and especially target the Arab tourist. Throughout 2014 and during the first few months of 2015, several tourism marketing campaign were launched to attract the Arab tourist. These campaigns included "Wahshtona" ("We have missed you") campaign, which was launched in April 2014 and targeted tourists from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Former Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou said that the campaign have resulted in a 149.4% increase in the number of visiting tourists from these countries, between July and December 2014. Another campaign, "Masr Orayeba" ("Egypt is close"), included a five minute song encouraging Arab tourists to visit Egypt, and featured many Egyptian actors and actresses. The campaign was launched earlier this year. Source: Daily News Egypt
