Flash News EGYPT’S TOURISM INDUSTRY IS RECOVERING FROM SLUMP

Egypt’s tourism industry, the country’s biggest source of foreign currency, is beginning to  recover from a slump caused by the global financial crisis, Tourism Minister, H.E. Mr. Zoheir Garranah
stated. Tourism revenue fell 9.5 percent in the first six months of 2009, an improvement from the 17 percent decline recorded in the first quarter, he added. Tourist arrivals in the first week of July
were higher than the same period a year earlier. Tourism earned Egypt $11 billion last year. The figures announced recently, imply revenue of about $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2009, similar
to the year-earlier figure. Tourist numbers fell 8.7 percent in the first half of the year from a year earlier. Egypt attracted a total of 12.8 million visitors in 2008.