Zoheir Garranah Minister of Tourism (INTERVIEW)

Egypt’s tourism star is on the rise, and deservedly so. Brimming with history, the country’s well-known attractions have been drawing visitors for a very long time; however, Egypt is not just the Pyramids, the Nile or the Valley of the Kings. In addition to hosting must-see monuments, the country boasts five different coastlines and twelve months of sun. It is a country with two seas, three deserts, numerous lakes and the world’s longest river.

A crossroads of cultures for thousands of years, Cairo is the oldest city in Africa and is a unique fusion of millennial remains and contemporary vibrancy. The country is undeniably a magical and colourful destination with something to offer all of its visitors. The question then is why, with all that Egypt has to offer, has it taken so long for its tourism industry to take off?

Four times the size of the UK and with a population of 78 million, Egypt received only 2.7 million tourists in 1994 while tiny neighbouring Cyprus, with its population of 780,000, had 3.35 million tourists that year. Long aware of its tourism potential, Egypt has been slow to harness its power. Attempts to create large resort areas during the mid-nineties met a myriad of obstacles and a great deal of financial difficulties. Things began to turn around, however, when government reforms increased investment incentives at the end of that decade in line with President Mubarak’s vision of tourism as Egypt’s future industry. Additional reforms in the last few years to property and tax laws as well as a stronger banking sector have further contributed to the sector’s renaissance. Indeed, between 1994 and 2003, the number of tourism-related companies in the country rose from 86 to a remarkable 1,352.

In 2006 Egypt received 9.1 million visitors and with a revenue of £3.9 billion, tourism was the largest foreign currency earner for the government and the largest single contributor to GDP. Now the government is targeting 14 million annual visitors by 2011. “As far as tourism is concerned, it is an ever-growing industry and everybody is focusing on it,” states Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah, adding that the sector needs to sustain an average growth of ten percent per year to reach the 14 million mark. Tourism officials are also targeting an increase in the number of hotel rooms from the current 175,000 to 240,000, which means constructing an additional 15,000 rooms per year.

Today, British tourists top Egypt’s visitor list. Arrivals grew by 24 per cent in 2006, and Minister Garranah expects this trend to continue. “Tourists from the UK were the number one tourists coming to Egypt last year, breaking the one million mark with 1,033,761 visitors, and we will sustain this growth for the foreseeable future,” he comments.