Tourism Minister Hesham Zaazou said 5,472,700 tourists visited Egypt between January and July 2012, registering an increase of 23.4 percent from the total number of tourists who arrived during the same period last year.
Zaazou attributed this increase to the Tourism Ministry’s efforts to boost tourism.
On the sidelines of the first session of the Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival, Zaazou said on Wednesday that Egypt is going through a critical period since it is becoming a full-fledged democracy, a process which has had an impact on tourism in the past 19 months.
Zaazou said revitalizing tourism would not have been possible had the government not made it a top priority.
Tourism makes up 11.3 percent of Egypt's GDP, and with 4 million workers, 12.6 percent of the labor force works in the sector. It is responsible for 20 percent of the foreign currency that flows into the country.
President Mohamed Morsy's recent visit to China serves the ministry’s plan to open up new markets and to develop markets such as China, the minister said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
