The officer stressed the importance of the national plan to develop tourism, key in the economy of Egypt, as quoted by the Al-Ahram daily.

In this regard, he highlighted the increase in the number of flights to and from Egypt, as part of the project to increase the number of visitors. He called to empower Egyptian tourism companies, operators, guides and other stakeholders in the sector.

The minister revealed earlier this month that the country expects to receive 15 million visitors in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 28 percent. He also explained that the entry of tourists in January and February increased by 35 percent.

At the beginning of the year, the Fitch rating agency estimated that more than 52 million people will arrive in Egypt in the next four years. According to the analysis, some 11.5 million visitors will arrive in 2023, a number that will increase to 13 million in 2024, 13.5 million in 2025 and 14 million in 2026.

The Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El-Said, recently informed that the Government will invest almost 300 million dollars in tourism in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023. He pointed out that the number of tourists increased from 3.7 million in 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, to eight million in 2021, while income grew from 4.1 billion to 9.0 billion dollars, respectively.

Tourism represented up to 15 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to official data.

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