Coinciding with the Egyptian state's preparations for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation reviewed, in a report it issued, the targets for the tourism and antiquities sector in the plan for fiscal year 2025/2026.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, affirmed that Egypt is presenting the Grand Egyptian Museum as a gift to the whole world, explaining that tourism holds special strategic importance in Egypt for several reasons, including the number and diversity of its tourist attractions, which give the sector an international competitive advantage and make Egypt one of the most important tourist destinations in the world. She noted that inbound tourism to Egypt grew at a rate of 23% between 2019 and 2024, placing Egypt sixth among the best major tourist destinations worldwide in terms of performance.
Al-Mashat stated that the tourism sector is among the biggest contributors to growth and one of the main drivers of the economic model put forward by the "National Narrative for Economic Development." The sector achieved growth of 17.3% in fiscal year 2024/2025, at a time when Egypt pumped major investments into tourism infrastructure and expanded hotel capacity, which helped attract 17.4 million tourists in fiscal year 2024/2025, compared with 15 million tourists in the previous fiscal year. The number of tourist nights rose to 179 million, compared with 154 million in the previous fiscal year.
Tourism Investment Plan
Al-Mashat revealed that the economic and social development plan for the current fiscal year 2025/2026 aims to increase investments in the tourism and antiquities sector to about EGP 116.2 billion, compared with EGP 72.4 billion in the last fiscal year, an increase of 60.5%. Private sector investments account for about EGP 115.6 billion, or 99.5% of total investments in the tourism sector.
Targeted Tourist Numbers
Al-Mashat announced that the target is to increase the number of tourists to about 19 million by the end of June 2026, and to raise the number of tourist nights to about 193 million.
Geographic Distribution of Inbound Tourism
The report addressed the geographic distribution of inbound tourism to Egypt by region. Arrivals from European countries made up about 58% of the total of 14.9 million inbound tourists in 2023, followed in second place by visitors from the Middle East at 22.3%. Arrivals from North America account for about 4%, and those from other regions about 15.7%.
The report stated that among the top source markets for tourism to Egypt in 2024, Germany came first, followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Hotel Capacity in Egypt
Regarding hotel capacity and occupancy rates, statistics show that the number of hotel rooms rose to about 228,100 by the end of December 2024, compared with about 218,700 rooms in 2023, a growth rate of 4.3%, in line with the strategic drive to attract tourists by developing the main tourism products and increasing the capacity of hotel and tourism establishments, according to the official page of the Egyptian Cabinet on Facebook.
