Egypt’s income from tourism, an important sector of the economy, rose 27 percent to $7.5 billion in 2014 from $5.9 billion the previous year, the tourism minister said on Sunday.
The country received 9.9 million tourists in 2014, up from 9.5 million in 2013, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou told a news conference.
That was still about two-thirds of the level before 2011, when Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising.
The sector suffered another blow in mid-2013 when the army removed elected Islamist president Mohammed Mursi from power after mass protests against his rule.
Zaazou told Reuters in September the tourism sector could fully recover by the end of 2015 as long as the Arab world’s most populous country remains peaceful.
Egypt received more than 14.7 million tourists in 2010 before the 2011 uprising, which saw the number of visitors drop to 9.8 million. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Shadi Bushra; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
This content is from :Reuters