Thursday, March 28, 2024
name of Prensa Latina
Bandera inglesa
English Edition
Search
Close this search box.
name of Prensa Latina

NEWS

NEWS

Egypt expands use of e-visa to boost tourism

Cairo, July 7 (Prensa Latina) Egypt included 24 countries, for a total of 74, in a list that allows obtaining an electronic tourist visa to enter this nation, as part of the strategy to boost the sector, an official source reported today.

The initiative will encourage many people from different nationalities to visit Egypt, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ghada Shalaby, said in a statement.

Two days ago the official revealed that this nation received 3.5 million tourists in the first half of 2021, which represented an income of about four billion dollars, figures similar to those reached in the entire previous year.

She emphasized that the sector collapsed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although she was optimistic about the recovery.

In that sense, she estimated that in the second half of the year the number of arrivals could grow between 45 and 60 percent compared to the same period in 2020.

According to official data, in 2019 the country received 13.1 million foreign visitors who reported an income worth of about 13 billion dollars, but the figures fell in 2020 to 3.5 million and four billion dollars, respectively.

Tourism is a pillar of the national economy, representing more than 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and employing more than three million Egyptians.

The Central Bank revealed last week that Egypt’s income from this concept in the first nine months of fiscal year 2020-2021 fell 67.4 percent year-on-year.

Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala Al-Saeed recently announced that the country expects growth of 55 percent during fiscal year 2021-2022, which translates into the arrival of some five million visitors.

pgh/lcp

LATEST NEWS
RELATED