Turkish travel companies: Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada are among Turkish tourists' favourite destinations, along with Cairo and Luxor
Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, held a series of meetings with a number of the most important Turkish tour operators and travel companies bringing tourists to Egypt, to discuss ways of cooperating to drive more tourist traffic from the Turkish market to the Egyptian destination, on the sidelines of participating in the EMITT tourism exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey.
During these meetings, the minister reviewed the performance of the Turkish market and the number of tourists arriving from it in Egypt in 2025, noting an increase of 43% compared with 2024 and that this growth is expected to continue this year. Areas of cooperation to increase these numbers were also discussed.
In this context, the minister stressed the importance of cooperation to increase two-way tourism and promote Egypt and Turkey in both countries, helping introduce the Egyptian and Turkish peoples to diverse tourism experiences, especially as the growth of two-way tourism between the two countries would help sustain flights between them.
The possibility of cooperating to organize fam trips for Turkish bloggers, content creators and influencers to get to know closely the many diverse tourism assets of the Egyptian destination was also discussed, along with organizing trips to discover the incentives and conferences product.
For their part, the tour operators reviewed the volume of their business in Egypt, what they achieved in 2025 and their future plans to maintain this growth, noting that Egypt became the top tourist destination for Turkish tourists in 2025 and that there is growing demand to visit it, and expressing their expectations of an increase in the number of Turkish tourists in the coming period, especially as there are great opportunities to achieve this increase.
They explained that among the most prominent Egyptian destinations favoured by Turkish tourists are Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, along with Cairo and Luxor, while the Grand Egyptian Museum has become a major and important attraction for tourists since its opening.
They also pointed to continuous coordination and cooperation with the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, especially through implementing joint campaigns to highlight Egypt's diverse and unique tourism assets, products and destinations, helping attract more Turkish tourists to Egypt to enjoy its unique tourism diversity and richness.
In this regard, Sherif Fathy noted that the fruitful cooperation between tour operators and the ministry, along with cooperation with the private tourism sector and the flight incentive programs offered by the ministry, led to the increase the Egyptian destination achieved in tourist arrivals from various tourism markets, which is expected to continue this year.
During these meetings, Sherif Fathy said that in 2025 Egypt achieved notable growth in tourist traffic from various tourism markets, receiving 19 million tourists, an increase of more than 20% over 2024, noting that this growth has continued at the start of this year. Museums and archaeological sites across the country also saw growth in visits by foreign tourists, receiving (excluding the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the Grand Egyptian Museum) 18.6 million tourists, an increase of more than 30% in 2025 compared with 2024, reflecting growing interest in the cultural tourism product for which Egypt is renowned.
He also reviewed the ministry's vision and strategy and Egypt's unmatched tourism products, explaining that this vision is presented at the international tourism exhibitions in which the ministry participates to highlight the tourism diversity and richness of Egyptian destinations, pointing out that there are opportunities to combine different tourism products in the Egyptian destination to offer a unique and integrated tourism experience, such as combining beach tourism with cultural tourism, spiritual tourism with long Nile cruises and visits to a number of Holy Family Trail sites along the Nile cruise route, as well as combining a visit to the North Coast and Siwa, among others.
He added that tour operators have already begun designing and marketing programs that combine more than one tourism experience in a single program, and marketing of the Egyptian destination is no longer limited to classic tour programs.
In this context, ways of designing and promoting tour programs combining different tourism experiences in the Egyptian destination were discussed, with the minister stressing the importance of diversifying tourist segments, especially as Egypt has tourism products that attract all categories.
