Egyptian envoy speaks about importance of attracting Russian tourists to Egypt
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Sulaiman
- . December 12, 2022
- . Update: December 13, 2022 12:11 am
Russian tourists continue to play a significant role in Egypt’s tourism industry, according to Cairo’s envoy to Moscow.
At a session hosted by the Egyptian Embassy in Russia, ambassador Nazih Al-Najari addressed members of significant Russian travel agencies and emphasised initiatives to further boost visitor numbers.
The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board’s CEO, Amr El-Kady, participated in the ceremony via video call. Representatives of EgyptAir, the country’s national airline, who are located in Moscow, were also there.
Russian tourists found Egypt’s historical and cultural monuments to be popular draws, but Egyptian tourism officials seek to promote other locations in the north African nation as well.
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After suspending direct flights to Egypt on March 8 due to what it called “unfavourable conditions” brought on by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Russian carrier Aeroflot restored services from Moscow to the cities of Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh in October.
According to Ahmed Issa, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities, this year saw a 30% rise in tourists. He emphasised that Egypt’s government was collaborating with the corporate sector to restore pre-pandemic tourist levels and reach a target of $30 billion in tourism-related income by 2025.
In the first two weeks of this year, almost 125,000 Russian visitors travelled to Egypt, while more than 700,000 did so in 2021.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reports that, compared to the same period in 2021, there were 2.6 million more tourists visiting Egypt in the first half of this year, a rise of 85.4%.
The total number of visitors from all nations increased by 117.5 percent to 8 million in 2021 from 3.7 million in 2020.
According to agency data, Eastern European nations accounted for 50.6% of Egypt’s tourism revenue in the previous year, followed by the Middle East (18.9%), Western Europe (16.4%), and Africa (7.1%).
