New figures show an upturn in Saudi travellers to Egypt

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh; 10 April 2016

The Egypt Tourism Authority (ETA) today announced a marked increase on visitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in January and February 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.

The 6% increase comes as the tourist board recently launched a regional campaign called "This is Egypt" (#thisisegypt), to drive growth in the tourism sector from the Middle East in November 2015 along with other measures specifically implemented to encourage targeted growth.

Mr Ahmed Ali Ismail, Tourism Counsellor in the Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi commented, "We are extremely pleased to report the upturn in visitation from our sister GCC countries. We have several tactics and incentives in place to grow the GCC market, including new visa regulations which were brought in at the end of 2015 allowing all nationalities with a minimum six month residency for GCC nations to gain a visa on arrival in Egypt."

"Along with a fresh advertising campaign, which was launched late last year, we've also been pleased to recently welcome the King of Saudi Arabia who visited the country from the 6th to the 8th of April to sign an agreement of cooperation between the two countries' governments. We hope to continue to strengthen and build on the visitor numbers from Middle Eastern countries and are working closely with travel operators and other stakeholders to explore all means of nurturing this growth." He continued.

In January and February 2015 approximately 55,582 travellers from the KSA nation entered Egypt through one of the countries airports and just 12 months later this figure is 59,000 showing the 6% increase.

Egypt will be attending one of Saudi Arabia's premier travel conferences, the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016 from 12th - 15th April where tourism operators, hoteliers and members of the general public will meet with high-level tourism officials from Egypt to learn and discuss how the ETA is whole-heartedly encouraging Arabic travellers to consider holidaying in the country.

-Ends-

About The Egyptian Tourist Authority
Egyptian Tourist Authority was established in March 1981, by presidential decree No. 134 endorsing a recommendation by the Minister of Tourism. The Authority is dedicated to promoting Egypt as a first class tourist destination, in line with the rise of tourism marketing as an independent discipline and the emergence of new tourism promotion tools. The Authority responded to the increasing competition in the travel and tourism industry, by adopting an advanced structure capable of dynamically dealing with the situation. The completion is due to the rising number of new attractive destinations, budget airlines and the huge progress made by the airlines industry.

For further information, please contact:
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller KSA office
Malek Abderahman
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mobile: 0544426364             
Tel: 0126067202, Ext: 200             
malek.abdelrahman@bm.com

© Press Release 2016