3 million tourists came to Egypt's tourist cities in the first five months of 2017
European tourism had the biggest impact on the decline in traffic last month compared with April
By Akram Medhat
Tourism to Egypt recorded 574,000 arrivals last May, up 33% from May 2016, though the number of tourists fell compared with April, which saw the highest arrivals since November 2015 at 716,000 tourists.
However, it was 36% below tourism traffic in May 2015, before the Russian plane crisis, when that month recorded 895,000 tourists.
Tourist nights reached about 6 million, continuing to rise with an increase of 142% compared with nights in May 2016, and the average tourist stay in Egypt reached its highest level during the crisis years, exceeding 10 nights (10.3 nights).
Five-Month Total
Tourism statistics obtained exclusively by Travel Yalla News showed that total inbound tourism to Egypt in the first five months of this year reached about 3 million tourists, up 51% compared with the same period of 2016, which saw 2 million tourists. However, it remained 24% below normal traffic levels before the Russian plane crisis, which stood at 4 million tourists in the period from January to May 2015, as it tries to make up for the losses and stagnation.
The number of tourist nights they spent in the same period reached 27 million, up 129% from the same period last year, which recorded 12 million nights.
Table showing the monthly development of inbound tourism in 2017:
Month | Number of tourists |
|---|---|
January | 543,892 |
February | 539,065 |
March | 654,877 |
April | 715,956 |
May | 573,810 |
Geographic Breakdown of Tourists
Tourist traffic from the various continents was relatively calm in May compared with April, and the large growth rates achieved in the first four months of 2017 fell back. European tourism to Egypt had the biggest impact, recording 292,000 tourists, up 68% from May 2016, compared with 405,000 tourists in April. Traffic from the Middle East was the only one to decline, falling 5% with 133,000 tourists.
Table showing the geographic breakdown of inbound tourism to Egypt in May 2017 compared with the same month last year:
Region | Number of tourists | Change | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|
Europe | 292,335 | 68.4% | 51% |
Middle East | 132,592 | -5% | 23% |
Africa | 68,532 | 27% | 12% |
Asia | 51,052 | 35% | 9% |
The Americas | 28,156 | 10.5% | 5% |
Other | 1,143 | 1.3% | 0.2% |
Total | 573,810 | 33% | 100% |
