European Tourism to Egypt Falls 12%, While Israelis Jump 157% in September

Russian numbers fall... and a continuing wave of increases in Germans

Analytical statistics issued by the Ministry of Tourism on inbound tourist traffic to Egypt last September revealed an 11.6% decline in the number of European tourists compared with the same month last year, with about 580,000 tourists arriving, representing 72.4% of total tourist traffic to Egypt during the same month, which recorded 802,000 tourists.

According to data published by Travel Yalla, Russian tourism, which ranks first in inbound tourism to Egypt, recorded a sharp 29% decline, with about 217,000 tourists arriving in September, compared with 305,000 Russians in the same month of 2014. In the period from January to September this year it recorded a 10% decline, with about 2 million tourists arriving, who spent more than 23 million tourist nights.

Gains Indicator

Germany deservedly holds second place, achieving a successive and steady wave of increases to maintain its strength, as about 91,000 German tourists arrived last September, an increase of 25% compared with 73,000 tourists in September 2014. Total arrivals from Germany over the past nine months reached about 737,000 tourists, up 20% compared with the same period last year, who spent 7.6 million tourist nights.

On another note, Italy, which ranks fourth among Egypt's top ten markets, is trying to make up for the sharp drop it saw last August, which reached 40% compared with August 2014, achieving a 14.5% increase in September with 21,267 tourists arriving, compared with 18,590 tourists in September 2014. Over the past nine months in total it recorded about 276,000 tourists, down 7.3% compared with the same period last year.

Czech Republic Posts the Highest Rate of Increase

The Czech Republic achieved the highest positive rate among the major European source markets for inbound tourism to Egypt in September, at 56.3%, with 15,757 tourists. In the first nine months of 2015 in total, about 111,000 tourists arrived, up 10.3% compared with the same period last year.

Declines Indicator

Poland, in sixth place, still leads the declines in arrivals from the European market for the second month in a row, down 64%, with 11,761 tourists arriving last September compared with about 33,000 tourists in the same month of 2014. The reason was the Polish government's continued travel warnings for the Egyptian destination since the end of June, which it recently eased to allow Poles to travel to the cities on the Red Sea. Over the past nine months in total, Poles recorded about 182,000 tourists, down 25.5% compared with the same period of 2014.

Inbound tourism from Ukraine, in fifth place, also fell 6% last September, recording 28,000 tourists compared with 30,000 tourists in September 2014, while their total reached 236,574 tourists in the period from January to September 2015, down 24.4% compared with the same period last year.

A Jump in Israeli Tourism

Inbound tourism from Israel jumped last September to 25,000 tourists, an increase of 156.6% compared with the same month of 2014. In the period from January to September this year it reached about 138,000 Israeli tourists, an increase of 32.6% compared with the same period last year, who spent 522,000 tourist nights.

A table showing the top ten European source markets for tourism during the period from January to September 2015: