(MENAFN) Egypt's tourism industry, which has been struggling for the last three years could fully recover by the end of next year, Gulf News reported,
Egypt's Tourism Minister said that he hoped tourist numbers would rise by up to 10 percent this year, and recover back to its previous levels of 14.7 million visitors in 2015.
Sea resorts and ancient sites are the backbone of the Egyptian tourism industry, as well as being a pillar of the whole economy, but Egypt is also thinking of promoting desert safaris, trekking and spa tourism to its touristic portfolio.
Once peaking at USD12.5 billion a year, tourism revenues were less than half that in 2013, while the numbers of tourists dropped from more than 14.7 million in 2010 to 9.8 million in 2011. However, visitors picked up in 2012 to 11.5 million but then shrank back again to 9.5 million last year.
Meanwhile, tourist revenue in the January-June period of 2014 was USD3 billion, down 25 percent compared to last year, while tourism contributed 11.3 per cent of GDP and 14.4 percent of foreign currency revenues.
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