Cairo (dpa) – Egypt plans to lure more tourists from Asia and South America – rather than crisis-hit Europe – to give the sector a push after last year's unrest, Minister of Tourism Munir Fakhri Abdul-Nur said on Sunday. The number of tourists who visited Egypt dropped by 30 percent due to unrest that began in January with a revolt that ousted president Hosny Mubarak. “The security circumstances in the country have affected tourism,” Abdel-Nur told reporters. Nine million tourists visited Egypt in 2011, compared with 14.9 million in 2010, leaving last year's total earnings at 8.8 billion dollars, he said. “Egypt's tourism industry has to open up new markets. In particular, we need to cater to south-east Asia and South America, and reshuffle the focus from crisis-hurt Europe,” Abdul-Nur said. “I believe Europe is in a bigger crisis than Egypt and we need a new marketing strategy to attract tourists from India, China and Brazil,” he added, referring to the debt crisis plaguing countries using the euro currency. Tourism accounts for 11.3 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product. Mubarak was forced to leave power in February 2011, after an 18-day popular uprising. Since then, protesters have staged several sit-ins in Cairo's central Tahrir square, where the Egyptian museum is located. The government has listed several items that disappeared from the building during clashes between protesters and security forces. Intermittent deadly clashes continued in 2011, as protesters called on the ruling military council to transfer power to a civilian administration. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/vcymS Tags: Latin America, Tourism, Travelers Section: Egypt, South America, Travel
