Egypt tourism revenues down 41% in 2013

Egypt’s tourism revenue sank by 41% to US$5.9 billion in 2013 in comparison to 2012, said tourism minister Hisham Zaazou, a further sign of pressure on one of Egypt’s main sources of foreign currency. The tourism sector has shrivelled since veteran autocrat president Hosni Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011. After a slight improvement in 2012, tourism took another hit in 2013 when hundreds were killed in violence that followed the army’s overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against him. Zaazou, as quoted in Reuters, confirmed Egypt’s tourism revenues in 2013 reached US$5.9 bn. “The numbers for 2012 was US$10 bn,” he added. Tourism receipts in the first quarter of Egypt’s financial year, which starts on 1 July tumbled to US$931.1 million down from $2.64 bn a year earlier, according to central bank data published last month. The number of tourist nights spent in Egypt between July and September fell by 57% to about 15 m and average visitor’s spending also dropped compared with a year earlier, said the central bank. Egyptian foreign exchange reserves hovered at US$17.03 bn last December. They stood at US$36 bn on the eve of the revolt against Mubarak. Source: Travel Daily