Tourist Arivals to Egypt on the Rse in October

Egypt received almost 1.2 million tourists in November, 8 per cent more than the 1.1 million it received the previous year, but still almost 400,000 less than October 2010 - before the revolution began. Tourism rates, although slowly recovering, are still below normal, the governmental statistical agency, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported. The tourists came mainly from Eastern Europe, followed Western Europe and the Middle East, spending an average total of 13.2 million nights in the country, a significant 19.7 per cent increase from October of last year, almost reaching its pre-revolution rate, 13.3 million nights in October 2010.

Egypt welcomed 221,000 tourists from Arab countries in October 2012, a momentous 40.5 per cent increase over October last year, close, but still below the 330,000 Arab tourists it received in 2010, noted the CAPMAS report. Arab tourists spent 4 million nights in Egypt during the month of October, compared to 2.9 million last year and 3.2 million nights the year preceding the revolution, surprisingly lower than the current month’s rates. The average number of nights spent by Arab tourists in Egypt stood at 12.6 in October this year, compared to 11.1 nights last year and 11.5 in October 2010. The Egyptian ministry of tourism expects to receive more than 12 million tourists by the end of 2012, an almost 23 per cent increase over 2011, despite fears of growing political uncertainties and negative repercussions on overall tourist influx.