European Tourism to Egypt Falls 12%... and Germany Offsets Russian Decline Last October

The Netherlands and Austria post the highest growth rates among major markets after the Germans

Israel falls 59% after September's jump... and Denmark records the largest increase among emerging markets at 48%

By Akram Medhat, Travel Yalla journalist

The latest tourism statistics for last October revealed a 12% decline in European tourist arrivals to Egypt compared with the same month of 2014, at about 685,000 tourists, representing 75.3% of total inbound tourism from around the world to the Egyptian destination, which reached 909,000 tourists last October.

On the other hand, the number of European arrivals rose in October as the situation corrected itself at the start of the winter tourism season, compared with last September, which recorded 580,000 tourists, down 11.6% from the same month last year.

According to data published exclusively by "Travel Yalla", Russian tourism, which ranks first among the source markets for Egypt, recorded a sharp decline of 27%, reaching 256,000 Russian tourists compared with 350,000 Russian tourists in the same month of 2014. Tourist nights spent by Russians in Egypt fell 45% to 2.4 million nights last October, compared with 4.3 million nights.

From January to October this year, Russian arrivals totaled 2.3 million tourists, down 12%, who spent about 25.5 million tourist nights, compared with 2.6 million tourists in the same period of 2014.

Germany: Highest Growth Rate

Germany deservedly holds second place, achieving a wave of successive and steady increases to maintain its strength, with about 112,000 tourists arriving last October, an increase of 37%, the highest among the major markets, offsetting the Russian decline, compared with 82,000 Germans in October 2014. This points to the start of a strong boost from the German market for Egyptian tourism, as numbers rose by about 21,000 tourists compared with September, which saw a turnout of 91,000 tourists.

Emerging Markets Outpace the Big Ones in Growth Rates

Denmark achieved the highest growth rate in the number of tourists arriving in Egypt, at 47.6%, recording 7,900 tourists last October who spent about 50,000 tourist nights, compared with 5,353 tourists in October 2014. Although Denmark is an emerging market, it outpaced the big markets in growth rates.

On the list of major markets, the Netherlands recorded a big increase after Germany, at 35.4%, with 13,000 tourists arriving who spent 119,000 tourist nights, compared with 9,597 tourists in October 2014.

Next on the list of highest increases is Austria, with 13,791 tourists arriving, an increase of 31.5%, who spent 106,000 tourist nights, compared with 10,485 tourists in October 2014.

The French began to make up for the decline in their numbers in September, achieving acceptable positive rates in October of 10.4%, with 15,636 tourists arriving compared with about 14,000 tourists in October 2014. On the other hand, the tourist nights they spent fell by 39%, to about 73,000 nights, indicating a decline in their average stay.

Index of Declines: Israel Crowds Poland

Although Poland, in sixth place, had led the declines in arrivals from the European market, Israel crowded it at the top. The Poles recorded about 12,000 tourist arrivals, down 47.4% compared with about 23,000 tourists in October 2014. Traffic improved relatively compared with September, which saw 11,761 tourists arrive, after Poland eased its travel warnings for Egypt at the beginning of last month.

As for tourism from Israel, after jumping last September to 25,000 tourists, an increase of 156.6% compared with the same month of 2014, it had the highest rate of decline last October, recording 10,531 tourists compared with 25,542 tourists in October 2014, down 59%. They spent 45,000 tourist nights last month.

Table showing the top ten European source markets for tourism from January to October 2015: