00:00Abdel Nasser Sabir, a tour guide, is leading a group of tourists in the city of Aswan in Upper
00:10Egypt. For him and most in the field, 2025 has been an unexpectedly busy year in spite of wars
00:18in neighboring Gaza, Yemen, Sudan and Libya that would have previously hit the tourism sector and
00:24kept visitors away. After the breakout of conflicts in the region, the government took measures to
00:31ensure that everything is operating smoothly. Trips, international flights, local transportation
00:37and accommodation. We advertise ourselves as the safe and secure destination and the feedback has
00:42been positive. Tourist inflows had dropped by over 70 percent after the 2014 uprising, the war on
00:50terrorism that followed it and the COVID years. For instance, charter flight traffic increased 32
00:56percent over the year, with tourist flights arriving from 193 cities worldwide, signaling a rebound after
01:04the COVID-19 pandemic, which cut tourists' arrival from 13 million in 2019 to about 3.7 million in
01:122020. Authorities in Cairo are now keen to build on that momentum. Tourism ranks among Egypt's main sources
01:21of revenue and employment. In 2024, the sector generated about $15.3 billion. Authorities plan to grow the
01:30sector by rolling out an aggressive airport modernization and expansion program, as well as the introduction
01:36of integrated electronic visa system to streamline entry procedures and improve border efficiency, the
01:43construction of cruise ports, and the development of new hotel capacity.
01:48The majority of tourists to Egypt are from the Europe and the United States, but there are other frontier markets in the
02:05horizon, particularly visitors from the Gulf Arab states and Asia.
02:09The Chinese market is very important for Egypt. We expect many charter flights arriving in Aswan from
02:18China, but we want more. Egypt has opened Chinese language centers in universities to have a generation that
02:25knows Mandarin to work with the Chinese groups. Tourism is vital for Egypt's economy. It's a major source of
02:32hard currency and accounts to about 8.5 percent of the state's GDP. The government has set an ambitious
02:40target for the number of tourists to reach 30 million up from the current 19 million by the year 2030.
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