The rates of tourism coming to Egypt from the Gulf countries fell by 15.3 percent during the past year, 2013, compared to the previous year 2012, said Tourism Minister Hesham Zaazou.
In remarks to Kuwait newspaper Al-Rai, Zaazou predicted that 2014 would witness a substantial boom in tourism rates in Egypt, especially after the referendum on the constitution, which is another step on the way to stability, in addition to lifting the ban on travelling to Egypt by 27 countries, especially after promotion campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Tourism.
He pointed out that the number of Gulf tourists who flocked to Egypt during the last year amounted to about 353,508 tourists, compared to about 417,515 tourists during 2012, with 15.3 percent as the rate of decline.
Zaazou noted that tourism contributes about 3.11 percent of the GDP and 40 percent of the total non-commodity exports as well as 3.19 percent of foreign exchange.
He stressed on the importance of economic returns for the implementation of tourism development strategy, as every LE1 million invested leads to the creation of 5.2 jobs directly and 6.1 jobs indirectly, in addition to 1.1 jobs in other sectors, as well as LE104 billion increase of foreign exchange, and LE490.24 million increase in tax revenues.
