Eastern European tourists major visitors to Egypt

The countries of Eastern Europe exported the highest number of tourists to Egypt during the first half of 2014, sending 1.9 million visitors to Egypt, a figure that represents 45.1 percent of total tourists visiting Egypt during the period according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

In a report released on Saturday coinciding with World Tourism Day, CAPMAS said that the number of tourists visiting Egypt during the first half of this year fell to 4.4 million, representing a 25.4 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2013.

The countries of Western Europe came in second, sending 1.4 million tourists and accounting for 31.9 percent of the total. Approximately 700,000 tourists visited Egypt from Arab countries, representing 16 percent of the total.

Russia topped the list of countries exporting tourists to Egypt during the first half of 2014, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Libya.

The number of nights spent in Egypt for the same period reached 43.6 million nights versus 65.1 million during the first half of 2013, representing a 33 percent decrease.