Egyptian Tourism Authority Announces 6% Increase in Saudi Visitors

The Egypt Tourism Authority (ETA) today announced a marked increase on visitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in January and February 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. 

The 6% increase comes as the tourist board recently launched a regional campaign called “This is Egypt” (#thisisegypt), to drive growth in the tourism sector from the Middle East in November 2015 along with other measures specifically implemented to encourage targeted growth.

Mr Ahmed Ali Ismail, Tourism Counsellor in the Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi commented, “We are extremely pleased to report the upturn in visitation from our sister GCC countries. We have several tactics and incentives in place to grow the GCC market, including new visa regulations which were brought in at the end of 2015 allowing all nationalities with a minimum six month residency for GCC nations to gain a visa on arrival in Egypt.”

“Along with a fresh advertising campaign, which was launched late last year, we’ve also been pleased to recently welcome the King of Saudi Arabia who visited the country from the 6th to the 8th of April to sign an agreement of cooperation between the two countries’ governments. We hope to continue to strengthen and build on the visitor numbers from Middle Eastern countries and are working closely with travel operators and other stakeholders to explore all means of nurturing this growth.” He continued.

In January and February 2015 approximately 55,582 travellers from the KSA nation entered Egypt through one of the countries airports and just 12 months later this figure is 59,000 showing the 6% increase.

Egypt will be attending one of Saudi Arabia’s premier travel conferences, the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016 from 12th – 15th April where tourism operators, hoteliers and members of the general public will meet with high-level tourism officials from Egypt to learn and discuss how the ETA is whole-heartedly encouraging Arabic travellers to consider holidaying in the country.