Visa halt negatively affects 40% of tourism income: Former ETF Chairman

Former Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation (ETF) Elhamy El-Zayat believes stopping individual visas for tourists will negatively impact the flow of tourists to Egypt during the current year.

El-Zayat added that the decision should be revised, saying: “We were surprised by the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No one expressed intention to make such decision.”

Individual tourism represents 25% of the total annual tourist flow to Egypt and 40% of the total tourism income, according to the former ETF chairman.

The expenses of individual tourists vary from $1,000 to $2,000 a week, whereas tourists that come in groups spend a maximum of $500 a week, said El-Zayat.

Recently, Egypt has been willing to increase the number of individual tourists due to their wealth and interest in classic tourism related to visiting monuments in South Egypt.

Last year, the number of tourists slightly increased by 500,000 tourists reaching 10 million visitors, compared to the 9.5 million tourists arriving in Egypt in 2013.

Last year, Egypt’s tourism revenues increased to $7.5bn compared to $5.9bn during the previous year, according to El-Zayat. However, he believes that this does not reflect the potential of the sector in Egypt in light of its true huge capabilities.