Hesham Zazou: Tourism Rates Rose 18% In Oct.

Egypt’s tourist arrivals rates has improved throughout the period from January to October, by 18%, compared to the same period last year, said Hesham Zazou, Minister of Tourism.

During his participation in EU- Egypt Task Force Business and Tourism Summit, Zazou said the European market is the main market for tourist arrivals in Egypt; represented by 70%. He referred that the European tourism arrive in Egypt had been affected during 2011 and 2012 because of the travel warnings and what is being transferred by media about Egypt.

Zazou pointed to the necessity of tactical plan to handle the current crisis of the tourism; reaffirming the support of the current government to the tourism industry, as Japan and China left travel ban, and coordinating with Turkish airlines to launch flights from Istanbul to Luxor in the coming days. All these factors support tourism in Egypt.

Zazou explained that the number of tourist arrivals in Egypt from January to September increased by 20%, and 13% of tourism income, and we seek the number of tourists in 2013 reach 30 million ones.