Egypt » Tourism

The Egyptian tourism industry is one of the most important sectors in the economy, in terms of high employment and incoming foreign currency. Egypt offers tremendous attractions in terms of cultural heritage and of natural beauty, but since 1992, intermittent terrorist actions have damaged this sector.

Tourism officially became the country's second largest foreign currency earner in 1996, when revenues reached US$ 3 billion, an increase of US$ 710 million over 1995 figures. The increase was due in large part to development along the Red Sea coast. For 1997, hotel occupancy is expected to increase by 12 percent over 1996, to twenty-nine million tourist nights for the year.

Egypt's goal is draw six million tourists annually by the year 2000. Meanwhile, accommodation capacity will expand to 75,000 hotel rooms, facilitated by the addition of 7,300 rooms during 1997-98. Related construction by German, French and Italian investors will create about 17,500 new jobs. Foreign marketing campaigns are expected to draw a large number of foreign tourists.