Egypt’s tourism revenue rises 27% to $14bn

Unsplash/Michael Starkie

Egypt’s tourism revenue reached a record high of $13.6 billion in 2022-23, climbing 26.8 percent from $10.7 billion in 2021-22, according to data released by the country’s central bank.

The number of tourists surged by 35.6 percent to 13.9 million, Egypt Today newspaper reported, citing the Central Bank of Egypt.

The number of nights spent by tourists rose 27.6 percent to 146.1 million in 2022-23.

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Tourist numbers reached 1.3 million in April, the highest in one month.

Egypt aims to attract 30 million tourists a year by 2028 and plans to increase the number of airline seats to the country three-fold.

Tourism, which accounts for about 12 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product, suffered during the pandemic. Travel restrictions and lockdowns wiped $17.6 billion from the Egyptian economy in 2020, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Oxford Economics is forecasting that tourism receipts will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 and then grow by an average of five to 10 percent per annum over the medium term.