Egypt minister: tourism will bounce back this year

Egypt’s tourism minister expects the number of foreign visitors to the country to bounce back to pre-Arab Spring levels in 2012 In a press conference held in Dubai on Sunday, Mounir Fakhry Abd ElNour said he anticipated 14.7m tourists this year, approximately the same number that visited in 2010 - the year before a popular revolt ousted Egypt\'s government. “The first quarter of this year witnessed a 40 percent growth compared to the same time last year,” Mounir Fakhry Abd ElNour told reporters at a press conference. In 2010, tourism generated around US$12.5bn in income, before the the number of visitors slumped to 9.8 billion in 2011, lowering the income to US$8.8bn, he said. “My aim for 2012 is to see numbers rise back to 14.7 million people,” he added. The growth of tourism numbers will be driven by a number of projects, including the reopening of the Nile cruise from Cairo to Aswan and offering chartered airlines in conjunction with tour operators, said Abd ElNour. However, Abd ElNour said he expected elections over summer to impact tourism. “Numbers will be slow in May and June because of the presidential elections but [we will see] a rise later,” he said. Tourism represents 11.3 percent of Egypt’s GDP and is the North African country\'s biggest service export, representing 49 percent of all service exports. The highest number of tourists come from Russia, followed by England and Germany. “Our number one is Russia, with 2.8m visitors in 2010 and close to 1.85m visitors to be precise in 2011,” he said, adding, “Number two is England with 1.5m visitors in 2010 and around 1.2m in 2011. “[Very importantly], Germany is third with 1.3m visitors in 2010 and 1m in 2011,” he continued.