The Government of Egypt recently announced that Egypt’s tourism revenues rose 77 percent to around $4.8 billion during the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year. According to Reuters, this includes a 41 percent increase in arrivals to Egypt, which reached 5 million visitors overall compared to last year.

This growth to Egypt’s tourism industry reaffirms another positive economic indicator for the Government of Egypt, which has undertaken bold efforts to transform its economy through an ambitious, IMF-backed reform program. In fact, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the release of the fourth installment of a $12 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to Egypt in June 2018, it highlighted that the “recovery in tourism” contributed to the improving economic situation and the favorable near term growth outlook.

In addition to economic reforms, the Government has undertaken new efforts to promote tourism worldwide, including regional sponsorship of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the launch of a new campaign on Instagram called ‘Experience Egypt’ which can be viewed on the social platform’s new ‘digital TV’ tool, IGTV.

For more information about growth to Egypt’s tourism industry, please see the below article fromReuters.

Reuters: Egypt’s tourism revenue jumps 77 pct in first half – government official
Ehab Farouk, Nadine Awadalla, Eric Knecht
29 August 2018

CAIRO, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Egypt’s tourism revenue jumped 77 percent in the first half of 2018 to around $4.8 billion compared with the same period last year, a government official told Reuters.

Egyptian tourism has been gradually recovering from a 2011 downturn triggered by the uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, helped by a currency float in late 2016 that halved the pound’s value and made the country a relatively cheap bet for foreign visitors.

The tourism sector is a pillar of the country’s economy and a key earner of foreign currency.

The official, who declined the be named, said visitor numbers during the first half of 2018 jumped 41 percent from a year before to about 5 million. A total of 14.7 million people visited Egypt in 2010 before the uprising.

“Indicators suggest the sector will earn about $9 billion by the end of this year,” the official said, adding there were expectations of greater traffic from western Europe, Italy, Germany and Ukraine towards the end of the year.

That figure would mark a jump from last year’s $7.6 billion.