Egypt sees 55% rise in tourists in third quarter

The number of tourists coming to Egypt increased in the third quarter of 2017 by 55 percent compared to the same period last year, in keeping with an upward trend, according to state statistics body CAPMAS.

In its report, CAPMAS stated that the number of tourists during the third quarter in 2017 exceeded 2.3 million, compared to just over 1.5 million tourists in the previous year’s third quarter.

Egypt's tourism revenues jumped 211.8 percent year-on-year to $5.3 billion in the first nine months of 2017, a government official said in October, according to Reuters.

The tourism and hospitality industry in Egypt took a blow when Russia, once responsible for a large portion of visitors to Egypt's popular Red Sea resorts, banned flights to the country following a plane crash over Sinai in 2015 that killed over 200 people.

Tourism revenues in 2016 reached $3.4 billion in comparison.