Surge of Chinese helps to steady Egypt's tourism

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The North African country is striving to revive its ailing tourism industry. However, terror attacks by Islamist militants have led many countries to warn their residents against traveling to Egypt.

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has descended into political, economic and social chaos, causing a recession in its tourism industry, one of the main sources of the country's national income and foreign currency reserves.

Meanwhile, the official says the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt "sent a positive message to our friends in China".

"Egypt is safe and everything is under control. This encourages Chinese to visit Egypt," the official says.

Mahmoud says the government is working hard to breathe life into the ailing tourism industry through promotional campaigns inside and outside Egypt.

"We have launched a campaign to promote tourism in 14 European and Arab countries," he says, adding "we have also commenced an initiative to promote domestic tourism".

He believes that the Arab market is very promising as the number of Arab tourists in Egypt has increased in January and February this year.