Egypt tourism declines 51.7pct in May year-on-year

The number of tourists who visited Egypt in May dropped by 51.7 percent compared to the same month during the previous year, the country's state statistics body CAPMAS said in a Tuesday statement.
Around 432,000 tourists visited the country this May, down from around 895,000 tourists in May 2015.

The decrease in figures is largely due to a 61 percent drop in incoming Russian tourists.

Russia indefinitely suspended passenger flights to Egypt following the downing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October, raising concerns about security in Egyptian airports.

Despite the decrease in tourists over the last year, the number of Arab tourists coming to Egypt increased by almost 20 percent compared to the same month last year.

More than one-third of May's tourists hailed from Arab countries, 31 percent of who were Saudi Arabia nationals.

The increase in Arab tourists comes as Egypt launched a campaign targeting citizens from Arab Gulf countries, in an attempt to revive the country's ailing tourism industry.

Nights spent by tourists in May totalled 2.5 million, compared to 8.6 million nights in May 2015, a nearly 70 percent drop.

Tourism revenue amounted $500 million in the first quarter of 2016, around 66 percent down compared to the same quarter a year earlier, a tourism ministry adviser told Reuters in April.