Egypt becomes one of Middle East's leading tourist destinations

Nicosia, Feb 13 (ANI): Egypt continues to rank high in the preference of tourists all over the world and has become one of Middle East's leading tourist destinations.

Currently, about one in five tourists travelling in the Middle East is visiting Egypt, according to Egypt's State Information Service.

Riham Wahid of the Egyptian Tourist Authority said that the number of tourists in 2008 reached 12.8 million, while total revenue stood at 10.98 billion dollars, representing an increase by 15.9 per cent.

The Authority is taking part in ten major tourist exhibitions and some 200 regional events, something which has helped the country attract tourists from U.K, France, Germany, Spain as well as Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

The aim is to increase the number of tourists to 14 million by 2011.

Currently, there are some 211,000 hotel rooms in Egypt, while another 157,000 are under construction. Tourist nights in 2008 were almost 130 million, a figure which is expected to rise to 140 million in 2011.

Both the private and the public sector are making a tremendous effort to overhaul all areas of the tourist industry, giving particular emphasis to the quality of accommodation and an environmentally friendly hotel management system. (ANI)