CAIRO: The number of tourists visiting Egypt rose 14.3 percent and tourism revenue rose 15.6 percent during the first half of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, reported the Egyptian Ministry of Planning in a recently released report. Tourism activity in the second half of the fiscal year, however, is severely affected by the January 25 Revolution as tourists canceled hotel reservations in waves and some countries banned all travel to Egypt. Tourism numbers fell 45 percent and tourism revenue fell 34 percent during the third quarter of the fiscal year. Investment in tourism is estimated to exceed earlier predictions and eclipse 6.6 billion EGP (U.S. $1.1 billon). Tourism investment last year reached 4.4 billion EGP (U.S. $739 million). The report said that private sector investments in tourism will represent 90 percent of total tourism. The remaining 10 percent of investments will focus on tourism stimulation programs as well as infrastructure and facility development for tourism. The 2011-2012 tourism sector plan aims to increase the number of tourists to Egypt to 14 million, increase the total number of nights stayed to 140 million and collect U.S. $12 billion in tourism revenue. Security conditions in Egypt are expected to remain fluid in the fourth quarter of 2010/2011 and experts predict no more than 1.5 million visitors and U.S. $800 million in revenue. In the fourth quarter of last fiscal year 3.5 million visitors came to Egypt bringing in U.S. $2.86 billion in revenue. The fourth quarter numbers in 2010-2011 were disappointing: 2.24 million tourists visited Egypt and stayed 21.8 million nights bringing in U.S. $1.85 million. Developing a tourism strategy means a discussion of procedures to face the consequences of the January 25 Revolution, the report stated. The Egyptian government will initiate a number of projects to encourage foreign ministers to halt travel bans on Egypt. Egyptian government also will focus on stimulating internal tourism and attracting Gulf country visitors.
