The number of tourist arrivals from all countries reached 473,000 during September this year, compared to 802,000 tourists during the same month in 2015—a decrease of 41%, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). CAPMAS stated in its monthly bulletin this week that the countries that most influenced the rate were Russia by 64.5%, followed by the United Kingdom (UK) by 18.1%, Germany by 13.1%, and Italy by 3.6%. The Middle East sent the most tourists to Egypt in September this year, accounting for 34.6% of arrivals, with Saudi Arabia making up the largest share with 29.6% of that percentage. In second place was western Europe with 31.7%, of which Germany made up the largest share with 32.1%. Eastern Europe ranked third with 13.1%, of which Ukraine had the largest share with 32.5%. Tourist arrivals from the rest of the world (the Americas, Africa, the Pacific, south Asia, and other countries) collectively reached only 20.6%. The number of tourist arrivals from Arab countries reached 192,600 tourists during September 2016, compared to 163,600 tourists during the same month in 2015—an increase of 17.7%, making up 40.7% of the total number of arriving tourists. The number of departing tourists reached 513,300 tourists during September 2016, compared to 817,000 tourists during September 2015, a decrease of 37.2% due to the decrease in the number of tourist arrivals. The number of nights spent by tourists amounted to 3.1 million nights during September 2016, compared to 6.9 million nights during the same month of 2015—a drop of 55.6%. CAPMAS attributed the decline to the decrease in the number of nights tourists from eastern Europe spent (92.4%), with Russia having the largest share in the decrease with 99.6%. Tourists from the Middle East had the largest share in the number of nights spent with 45.9%, with Saudi Arabia taking the largest share in the number of tourist nights by 49.3% from the total number of nights spent by tourists from the Middle East. Western Europe represented 30.7%, with Germany representing the largest share in the number of tourist nights by 41.7%. The percentage of tourists from Africa reached 7%. Sudan had the largest share in the number of tourist nights with 76.9%. The number of tourist nights spent by tourists from Arab countries totalled 1.6 million nights during September 2016 compared to 1.5 million nights during the same month of 2015—an increase of 3.2% of total tourist nights.
