Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s critical tourism sector has seen a record year so far in 2018, registering a 40% year-on-year hike in the recorded number of tourists visiting the country during first nine months of 2018.
Last year, Egypt welcomed 8 million tourists, according to official estimates.
“We expect that by the end of 2018 we will not be at the levels that we’ve seen in 2010, but we are approaching that,” Rania Al-Mashat told Bloomberg TV. “The rebound is quite steep and we’re trying to put the industry on a competitive base compared to our peers.”
Mashat further added that the government was working on boosting the industry with a new, large-raised round of private equity funding to develop touristic venues.
This would be coupled with a focus on exploring more untapped investment opportunities on the Red Sea islands, she added.
The Egyptian government is trying to diversify its tourist base, by targeting travellers from Asia and Latin America, Mashat noted, explaining that the government was trying to market the $1 billion Grand Egyptian Museum, which houses more than 10,000 artifacts and is set to open in 2020.
