CAIRO: Egypt's tourism ministry continues its PR campaign to bolster the country's visitors after a 2011 that saw tourism drop by more than one-third as a result of a popular uprising and continued clashes throughout the country. Tourism in Egypt has been historically one of the top foreign income sources in the country, but as a result of the tensions and violence in 2011, visitors went elsewhere, leading to a backlash on the Egyptian economy, where some 20 percent of the country work in the tourism sector. But Egypt's Tourism Minister Munir Abdel Nour is confident that 2012 can be a return to the tourism boom that had seen Egypt increase its visitors annually until last year, as a result of its close proximity to Europe and its cheaper costs of travel inside the country. “We can get back to the 2010 figures of $12.5 billion in terms of income and 14.7 million tourists in 2012 if perceptions change. And perceptions won't change unless security prevails and calm is restored,” Minister Nour told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. A report issued in late December by the Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) says tourism in Egypt has dropped a staggering 24 percent in the third quarter of the year, in comparison to the same time in 2010. It was expected to drop further in the final quarter of the year. The report said the number of tourists visiting the country in that time frame was 2.8 million while the past year saw 3.6 million visitors. The numbers are from the beginning of July to the end of September, a largely busy season around the world. The report suggests that the political upheaval in the country is behind the dropping numbers, especially tourists from Western Europe, one of the top regions that has sent large numbers in the past. The report said there is a 33.1 percent decrease in the number of visitors coming from that region. Still Western Europe sent 39.9 percent from all visitors to the country. Visitors from the region, a once rich source of tourism, has dropped to 21.6 percent. Overall, only 16.6 percent visitors came this quarter from neighboring countries in the MENA region. Eastern Europe sent 34.6 percent of visitors to Egypt, notably the visitors of this region prefer traveling to the sunny Red Sea, for its relatively cheap costs and warm weather year round. A mere 3.6 percent visitors came from Africa. 18 days of protests and millions of Egyptians in the street forced the former regime to step down, with the military taking over power of the country in the transitional period, but violence has wracked the country in the past few months. ** Manar Ammar contributed to this report. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/NpjJa Tags: featured, Tourism, Visitors Section: Egypt, Latest News, Travel
