According to an official at the Ministry of Tourism, the expenditure rate by the end of the year will rise to $85 from $76 at the end of last year. However, tourism experts said that the average spending does not exceed $35 dollars per person per night. The average expenditure rate this year was markedly improved compared to last year's spending rate of just over $75 per person per night, said the official. The average rate of foreign tourists' spending at Egyptian destinations rose to about $85 per night during the first half (H1) of 2017 compared with last year, which recorded $76 a night, said head of the Egyptian National Competitiveness Council (ENCC) Mustafa Sultan. Nevertheless, this rate is still considered weak compared to the other tourist destinations competing with Egypt, which includes Dubai, for example, with the average spending rate of tourists per day $180, which is obviously a huge difference between the two countries, according to Sultan. In addition to that, Sultan attributed the main reason for the decline in the expenditure rate of tourists for Egyptian destinations to the weakness of the role of the Egyptian Tourism Authority in promoting Egypt and the apparent lack of using digital marketing over the internet, which is contested by all countries to attract tourism. According to a member of the Egyptian Travel Agencies Association and Chairperson of the Committee of Foreign Tourism Adel Zaki, the average daily spending of tourists in Egyptian destinations is weak and does not exceed $35, compared to statements indicating that the expenditure rate reaches $84. Zaki explained that the cost of a trip, flight, and accommodation for a week, whether in Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, or Marsa Alam, including all meals and even alcoholic beverages, do not exceed €450 for a double room. Tourists usually do not have to leave the hotel to buy gifts or food. The hotel room rate is only $25 per night, as well as one day trips from Hurghada to Luxor, for example, which do not exceed €17 per person, according to Zaki. Meanwhile, treasurer of the Egyptian Travel Agencies Association Ahmed Ibrahim said that the tourist spending rate dropped from last year according to the dollar exchange rate against the pound after the government's decision to float the currency at the end of last year. Ibrahim pointed out that compared with the spending rate during last year, which was $76 per night or EGP 684 when the dollar exchange rate was then EGP 9, the current spending rate does not exceed $38 due to the high value of the dollar, currently at EGP 18. Nevertheless, according to the Ministry of Tourism, the Arab, Japanese, and South African tourists are among the highest segments of expenditure rates. Expenditure rates vary according to the type of products desired by the visitor, as it increases the tourism of archaeological sites on the beach, according to the former chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Tourism. The number of tourists reached 6.5 million during the fiscal year 2016/2017, with revenues of $4.8bn, as a result of the decline in the number of tourists from Russia and England, in particular in the H1 of the fiscal year. Tourist arrivals accounted for 4.3 million tourists from Europe and 255,000 tourists from India, China, and Japan, out of 6.9 million tourists. Tourism revenues from Europe reached about $2.5bn during the fiscal year 2015/2016 and are expected to rise to $2.8bn for the current fiscal year and $17bn over the medium term until 2019/2020. On the other hand, the number of tourists coming from Arab countries reached 1.8 million tourists, with revenues of $1bn in 2015/2016, and the number of Arab tourists is expected to reach 2 million tourists with revenues of about $1.2bn in 2016/2017.
