Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, stated that Egypt has achieved a record performance in the tourism industry over the past 6 months, with an increase in the number of incoming tourists.
The Minister reviewed during a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund, on Thursday, the "positive indicators of inbound tourism movement to Egypt," which has positively reflected on the financial performance and revenues of the fund.
This period saw the highest rates of inbound tourism movement in Egypt's history of tourism, compared to the same period in 2010, which was the highest rate at that time, according to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The Minister stressed the need to measure and follow up on the performance, quality, and accuracy of available data regarding the sector and its activity, which is crucial for making fact-based decisions contributing to its development and advancement.
Last year, 11.7 million tourists arrived in Egypt, compared to eight million in 2021, according to official statistics.
The Minister announced last month that Egypt received about seven million tourists during the first five months of the year and aims to receive 15 million by the end of the year.
Egypt is seeking 18 to 20 million tourists in 2024.
The head of the Committee for Promotion of Cultural Tourism in Luxor, Mohamed Othman, believes that several reasons resulted in positive indicators in inbound tourism.
Othman explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that the successful archaeological discoveries during the last period, the development of Sphinx and Bernice airports, and new government facilities to obtain tourist visas helped increase tourism movement into the country.
The expert echoed the Minister's predictions, agreeing that the country is expected to attract 15 million tourists until the end of the year, coming mainly from China, India, and Japan.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian private plane made an "emergency" landing at the Aktobe International Airport in Kazakhstan, following a false alarm in the luggage storage area, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation.
A source stated that the Egyptian plane was heading from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport to Nur-Sultan Airport in Kazakhstan, and alarms went off three and half hours after takeoff.
"Immediately, this warning was addressed seriously, and all internationally applicable air safety rules were followed, which required extinguishing the fire and landing at the nearest airport," the statement added.
The source confirmed that the pilot and co-pilot activated the fire extinguishing system, and all alarm warnings on the plane stopped. They headed towards Aktobe Airport, the nearest airport for landing, and the aircraft landed safely.
The passengers were evacuated, and the baggage stores were evacuated.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the airport authorities reviewed all the procedures taken by the company and re-authorized take off again after ensuring that they applied all international standards for air maintenance and safety procedures.
A malfunction of the fire detection system in the cockpit was confirmed, and there was no trace of fire or smoke in any of the luggage stores.
The plane continued its flight to Nur-Sultan Airport in Kazakhstan.
