 | <div>CAIRO: The number of tourists visiting Egypt increased by 7.4 percent in April 2015, totaling 923,900 compared to 859,900 in April 2014, according to the Centered Agency for Public Mobilization and Statics (CAPMAS.)</div>
<div>In its monthly report for April tourism statistics issued Friday, CAPMAS indicated that the number of departing tourists in April 2015 reached 911,100, up from 798,000 tourists during the same period last year.</div>
<div>Egypt depends on tourism for around 20 percent of its hard currency. The industry witnessed its peak in 2010, with $13.8 billion in revenues, but unrest following the 2011 revolution has kept many tourists away.</div>
<div>According to the report, the rate of tourists from Eastern Europe represented 42.2 percent, followed by tourists from Western Europe in second place at 34.3 percent, with Middle Eastern tourists at 12.3 percent, with holidaymakers from the Russia, U.K., and Saudi Arabia topping the list of the three regions respectively.</div>
<div>The report said that the number of arriving tourists from Arab countries reached 146.200 in April 2015 compared to 124.200in April 2014.</div>
<div>The tourism sector saw a sharp decline in the number of inbound tourists during the months of July and August 2013 due to deadly dispersal of pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares that killed at least 650 people following the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in July.</div>
<div>In May 2014, the Ministry of Tourism announced a five-year plan to attract more than 30 million foreign tourists, achieve a 14 percent growth rate and gaining $25 billion in revenues.</div>
<div>The plan includes increasing tourism investment in Sinai, reaching new tourism markets like India and Iran along with coordinating with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to decrease the cost of its prices in order to attract more tourists.</div>
<div>14.7 million Tourists visited Egypt in 2010, compared with 9.5 million tourists who visited the country in 2013, according to CAPMAS.</div>
<div>Despite a few instances of apparent recovery, continuous instability, political turmoil and a lack of security have remained challenges to the sector.</div> | | |