Egypt sees ‘steep rebound’ in tourists as industry recovers

The number of tourists to Egypt soared 40 percent in the first nine months of 2018 from a year earlier, recovering from a slump that began with the Arab Spring and continued as unrest persisted, the tourism minister said.

“We expect that by the end of 2018 we will not be at the levels that we’ve seen in 2010, but we are approaching that,” Rania al-Mashat told Bloomberg TV. “The rebound is quite steep and we’re trying to put the industry on a competitive base compared to our peers.”

The government plans to announce a new private equity fund to upgrade its hotels and new investment opportunities on islands in the Red Sea, she said. Tourism is critical to Egypt’s economy, accounting for 20 percent of output, according to Mashat. The annual number of visitors began plummeting from a 2010 peak of more than 14 million following the popular uprising that deposed Hosni Mubarak the following year.