The Egyptian government has launched the national strategy for tourism development, aimed at maximizing the potential of this promising sector, which boasts immense capabilities. In this context, Egypt has focused on enhancing its competitive position on the global stage, showcasing its unique tourist and archaeological assets that make it one of the most diverse tourist destinations in the world. Additionally, the country has expanded its promotional campaigns and global events to target new tourist markets, while also improving the tourism investment climate through fostering partnerships with the private sector, international collaborations, and offering investment incentives to enhance the sector’s attractiveness.
These efforts have earned widespread praise from international organizations, reflecting positively on Egypt’s ranking in global tourism indices and solidifying its position as a leading global tourist destination.
In this regard, the Cabinet’s Media Center recently released a report featuring infographics highlighting the country’s objectives to become the most diverse tourist destination worldwide as part of its tourism promotion strategy.
The report highlighted key performance indicators for the tourism sector, both domestically and internationally. On the local performance front, tourism revenues more than doubled, reaching $15.3 billion in 2024, compared to $7.2 billion in 2014. Additionally, the number of incoming tourists increased by 59.6%, reaching 15.8 million tourists in 2024, compared to 9.9 million tourists in 2014. The target is to reach 30 million tourists by 2032.
Regarding international perspectives, the report noted Egypt’s advancement by 22 ranks in the Travel and Tourism Development Index, securing the 61st position in 2024, compared to 83rd in 2015, according to the World Economic Forum.
Moreover, Forbes magazine acknowledged the success of Egypt’s national tourism strategy and the policies implemented, highlighting that inbound tourism to Egypt has reached record numbers.
The Travel + Leisure magazine also ranked Luxor among the top 50 travel destinations worldwide for 2025.
National Tourism Strategy and Investment Initiatives
In its efforts to achieve the goals of the national tourism strategy, Egypt has introduced a range of incentives to encourage tourism investment. These include the Central Bank of Egypt’s new initiative to support the tourism sector with financing from the Ministry of Finance, in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, amounting to 50 billion EGP, launched in October 2024.
Additionally, efforts are underway to establish an investment opportunities bank, which will provide a unified investment map to showcase all available tourism investment opportunities, promoting these opportunities both inside and outside Egypt.
The report also highlighted 156 available tourism investment opportunities on the investment map as of January 2025. Furthermore, the Cairo Cultural Product, “Cairo City Break,” which aims to position Cairo as a standalone tourist destination, was launched. This product will offer a variety of experiences, including visits to historical sites from the Pharaonic, Coptic, and Islamic eras.
In terms of global events, Egypt is hosting several high-profile international gatherings, including the 12th World Urban Forum from November 4-8, 2024, and the African Egyptian Tourism Forum and Exhibition, which was held for the first time in Egypt in May 2024.
Expanding Tourism Markets and Promoting Egypt
The report also discussed Egypt’s efforts to diversify its tourist markets. The Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Promotion participated in 33 international tourism exhibitions in 2023/2024 and organized around 80 familiarization (Fam) trips for tourists to promote Egypt during the same period, in addition to boosting online marketing efforts.
The report outlined several targeted promotional campaigns for specific markets. For the Arab and Gulf markets, the “Living 365” campaign was launched in 2024 to attract visitors for vacations in Egypt. The “Sida on Egypt” campaign targeted the youth demographic in 2023/2024. In the U.S. and European markets, Egypt launched the “200 Years of Unbroken Science” campaign in 2022 to celebrate 200 years since the deciphering of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the rise of Egyptology, along with the “Follow The Sun” campaign in 2022 to promote the summer season, which successfully reached 495.3 million users.
Supporting Various Forms of Tourism
The report also highlighted the government’s efforts to support various types of tourism, including Nile tourism. The country is working on developing the Nile tourism product to increase the floating hotel capacity to 25,000 rooms by 2030, as well as utilizing currently inactive floating hotels and exploring their potential reopening.
On the religious tourism front, the report mentioned ongoing projects such as the revival of the Holy Family’s route and the Grand Revelation project in St. Catherine, aimed at creating a spiritual sanctuary in the surrounding mountains of the Sacred Valley.
In terms of medical tourism, Egypt signed a contract for the creation of the first medical and wellness resort in the country, “Naya Health Resort,” which is set to become Egypt’s first specialized medical tourism center in January 2024.
For yacht tourism, Egypt introduced a unified digital platform that processes yacht visit approvals in just 30 minutes, compared to the previous 15 to 30-day wait. Additionally, the duration of tourist stays for yacht visitors has been extended to three months, up from one month.
Archaeological Tourism and Cairo’s Historical Revival
Efforts in archaeological tourism are also underway, with the restoration of historic Cairo to revive the cultural, tourist, and entertainment role of the capital. Key restoration projects include the renovation of areas like Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah, the southern part of Bab Zuweila, Harat El-Roum, and Darb Al-Labana.
The report also mentioned the ongoing trial operations for the main exhibition halls at the Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open in October 2024. Additionally, the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor, with its 1,050 statues, was inaugurated in November 2021, and the Royal Mummies Parade, which transported 22 royal mummies from Egypt’s kings and queens in April 2021, added to the country’s cultural and tourism prominence.
Lastly, a comprehensive strategic plan is being prepared for the development of the area stretching from Sphinx Airport to the Saqqara region, which includes the Giza Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum.
