Some 5,520 tourists of different nationalities arrived in Cairo International Airport during the past 24 hours, a security source at the airport told Youm7.
A total of 2,243 tourists mainly from Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America regions have arrived at Cairo Airport along with 3,277 Arab tourists mainly from the Persian Gulf region, said the source.
A total of 5,685 tourists have departed the airport as well, according to the source.
Egypt’s political turmoil following the 2011 January uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak has badly affected the tourism sector, which has only recently started to rebound. Egypt’s second most important source of national income after the Suez Canal provides direct and indirect employment to up to 12.6 percent of the country’s workforce.
Following the Russian plane crash that killed 224 passengers and crew, swift decisions were taken by a number of countries including Germany, Russia, France and the UK to evacuate their tourists from the resort town, after reports that a bomb may have been the cause.
Hotel occupancy rates at Sharm el-Sheikh during the Christmas season have not exceeded 10 percent, the head of tourism and airlines at Cairo Trade Chamber Emary Abdel Azim told Youm7 Sunday.
The country’s revenues from the tourism industry decreased by 15 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year, said tourism ministry economic advisor Adala Ragab in October.
Revenues from tourism represent 11.3 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP.)
