Statistics of the World Tourism Organization shows that fewer and fewer Russians began to come to the country.
Egypt has finally ceased to be Russian. What's happened?
Egypt in 2019 (before the pandemic) according to the organization's new data 13 million people visited, in 2020 – 3.7 million people, in 2021 the situation improved and the number of tourists reached 8 million people, and in 2022 – 11.7 million people, of which there were less than a million Russians.
Until February 2022, Russians accounted for 35-40% of the total tourist flow, but then their number began to decline rapidly. Thus, the Russian market lags behind the average for recent years by the same 40% – such an assessment was given by the Minister of Tourism Ahmed Issa. “Even with a decrease in Russian tourist traffic, the results show that we will be able to meet or exceed our goal (to return Russian tourists), God willing, in 2023,” he added.
The reduction in the tourist flow of travelers from Russia last year was compensated by tourists from other countries. In January-February 2023, 30% more foreign guests arrived in Egypt than in the same months of 2022. At the same time, the largest increase was due to Italian tourists, according to estimates + 250%. In addition, Egypt is hoping for the return of tourists from China – before the COVID-19 pandemic, they flew 220,000.
Officials say that further growth in tourist flow is limited by a lack of hotel beds and low-cost flights. Therefore, the main directions of development of foreign tourism – an increase in the number of flights, the construction of new 4- and 5-star hotels and the simplification of the visa procedure. Egypt also extended the program to stimulate flights of foreign airlines – the last two years, foreign carriers were paid from 1,500 to 3,000 dollars per flight. The amount depends on the frequency of flights, traffic congestion and direction. From April 2023, this program will be extended for a new period.