Egypt’s Tourism: Encouraging numbers from Milan BIT travel exhibition

Egyptian tourism has demonstrated its best at the last edition of the BIT (Borsa Internazionale del Turismo) travel exhibition in Milan that has just ended, firmly determined to bring itself back to the levels that compete as a preferred destination for travelers from all over the world.

The numbers reached in 2019 look encouraging – 13,600,000 tourists have decided to travel to Egypt – an increase of 21% compared to 2018.

The Italians remain the fourth country in Egypt’s inbound tourism, with 619,425 trips (a 46% increase) confirming the great interest and the deep bond they have with the country of the Pharaohs.

There is a great deal of satisfaction for the Director of International Tourism of the Egyptian Tourism Authority Emad Abdalla, who during the three days of meetings and discussions at Bit has been able to personally verify how the interest in Egypt is growing again.

The Red Sea is doing well, especially Sharm El Sheikh and Marsa Alam; the northern Mediterranean coast is doing well, while some signs of recovery also showing for Luxor, Aswan and the Nile Cruises, that is, for the destinations of classical Egypt, that are coming back to attract tourists from all over the world. The imminent opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will also contribute to bringing the tourism spotlight back to Egypt.

The GEM, which covers an area of 490,000 square meters, will be the largest museum in the world and will house the entire Tutankamon collection of around 5000 objects, of which 2000 exhibited for the first time.

It was during the numerous meetings with industry associations, tour operators, air carriers and representatives of the press, organized at the Egyptian stand at the Bit in Milan, that many positive and decidedly encouraging signs were confirmed.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism has worked hard in recent years to refresh and relaunch the country’s image with a series of initiatives, some of which are still ongoing, aimed at improving the international perception of the internal situation and facilitating arrivals in Egypt.

In terms of communication, all the tools available today were used: from traditional printing and televisions to the most advanced digital channels, especially social media ones.

A significant effort, which however soon produced the desired effects, generating important results readily recorded by all the main tourist indicators: international arrivals, in particular, in fact went up from 11,346,389 in 2018 to 13,600,000 in 2019 and the Italian numbers rose from 421,000 in 2018 to 619,425 in 2019.

“There are therefore excellent reasons to look to the future with confidence”, emphasized Emad Abdalla.