Egypt is forecast to see a significant rise in tourism for 2025 due to its extensive campaigns to promote itself worldwide and continued efforts to gain traction from more tourists globally, according to some officials.
The growth is also probable to result from the North African country's investment in the tourism sector and the potential end to regional conflict.
With its extraordinary history and culture, Egypt has been a must-see destination for world travelers for many decades now. Despite a series of headwinds including conflict and humanitarian crises on its borders, the North African country is continuing to set new records in tourism.
Officials say the country hit a record of 15.5 million arrivals this year.
"We have to admit that we were affected. The forecast was 18 million tourists in 2024, so we could have done better but it's still good amidst the turmoil. That's because of our extensive marketing campaigns worldwide, the road shows and competitive prices we are offering. We also offer different destinations throughout the year like Luxor and Aswan in winter, and Sharm El sheikh for the beaches, and the North Coast in the summer," said Hani Peter, member of Egyptian Chamber of Tourism Companies.
The government sees tourism as key to Egypt's economic future, setting a target of attracting 25 million tourists a year by 2028 and working hard with industry players to ensure its achievement.
Officials and operators believe the country can tap into newer markets, such as India, China and Japan, to supplement the traditional markets of Russia, the UK, Germany, Italy, and France.
"The traditional markets Egypt depends on are Russia, UK, Germany, Italy and France. Those five or six countries send bulks, millions of tourists every year. The newer markets we are working to increase their inflows are India, the far east, China of course and Japan," said Abdel Rahman Anwar, Vice President of Egyptian Investors Union.
However, a lack of accommodation has been a sticking point, prompting officials to offer incentives and soft loans for investors to build new hotels or expand existing ones, with the aim to more than double the current capacity of about 225,000 thousand rooms.
Another issue of concern is transportation.
"The golden saying goes: 'When there's transportation there is a tourist.' And we have to emphasize this strategy by merging the Tourism and Aviation ministries together. This will improve the performance and will enable us to create new transport links to the markets we need to ease the access to our tourists," Peter said.
Looking ahead, 2025 could be an even better year than its predecessor, as the government remains optimistic that a potential end to regional conflicts could bring stability and security, further boosting tourism inflows.
"We are all optimistic after Trump said he will stop all wars in the region. If this happens then definitely will bring stability and security and increase tourism inflows," Anwar said.
The government says it's focusing on tourism, a sector that contributes six percent of GDP, as it's a major source of hard currency for the state, as well as a crucial employer for secondary industries.
Egpyt's tourism expected to boom in 2025 amid global campaigns
