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| Egypt-stand-2-atm-2019 |
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Saudi
Arabian visitor spend to grow 11% to $1.13 billion by 2024
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Total
tourism spend in Egypt reached $16.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to jump to
$29.7 billion in 5 years
GCC
tourists to Egypt will spend $2.36 billion in 2020, an increase of 11% over
2019, with visitors from Saudi Arabia driving this growth, according to new data
published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2020,
which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 19-22 April 2020.
Visitors
from Saudi Arabia to Egypt made 1,410 trips in 2019 with a forecast of 1.8
million tourists by 2024, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5%. In terms
of tourism expenditure, Saudi Arabian visitors spent $633 million in 2019 which
is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11% through to 2024, reaching $1.13 billion, according
to Colliers
International research commissioned by the organiser of ATM, Reed Travel
Exhibitions.
Danielle Curtis,
Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “Total tourism receipts in
Egypt which stood at $16.4 billion in 2019, will achieve an average 13% CAGR
over the next five years to reach $29.7 billion.”
“And
Egypt also has a significant outbound market for the GCC. 1.84 million visitors
arrived in 2019 and this is estimated to increase to 2.64 million by 2024,”
added Curtis.
Egypt’s
top source market is Germany with 2.48 million arrivals a 46% increase over
2018 and a total spend of $1.22 billion in 2019. German arrivals are forecast
to reach 2.9 million by 2024 with a total projected spend of $2.18 billion.
While
arrivals from Europe are expected to be the largest contributor on a regional
basis, increasing from 6.2 million in 2018 to 9.1 million tourists in 2022, arrivals
from the GCC at 11% will represent one of the highest growth rates.
“Over the last 12 months, Egypt’s tourism
industry has witnessed remarkable growth, with arrivals up 57.5% from 11.3
million in 2018 to 17.8 million in 2019. Growth has been fuelled by the cheaper
Egyptian Pound and government incentives for charter airlines operating
international flights,” said Curtis.
Data and analytics specialist STR commented that Sharm El Sheikh led the recovery with RevPAR
rebounding 315% for the November rolling 12 month period between 2016 and 2019.
Hurghada followed closely with a 311% increase, whereas Cairo & Giza recorded
a 138% growth.
“Underscoring
those impressive numbers, we witnessed a 23% increase in the number of visitors
interested in doing business with Egypt, up to almost 4,000,” added Curtis.
Taking
advantage of this resurgence in tourists, Egypt will be back at ATM 2020 with
some of the country’s most prominent tourism companies including the Egyptian
Tourism Promotion Board, Dana Tours and Orascom Development Egypt, representing
a 29% increase in participation since 2018.
Following Germany, the second largest source
market in 2019 was the Ukraine, with 1.49 million visitors, almost 50% growth over
the previous year. This remarkable rise has been mainly driven by the availability
of direct flights, which resumed, after a two-year suspension, in April 2018.
Egypt
tourism capital investment, which was estimated to have reached $4.2billion in
2019, up 25% on 2018, was fully justified after a major announcement by the
UK’s Department of Transport (DoT), was made on 22nd October 2019.
The DoE ended a ban on direct flights between the UK and the Red
Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
“This should lift UK visitor numbers significantly in 2020
and beyond,” she added, “Just days after the ban on UK flights to Sharm
al-Sheikh was lifted, British Ambassador to Egypt Geoffrey Adams claimed that
nearly half a million British citizens would visit Egypt before the end of 2020,
a major boost for Egyptian tourism.
After the flight ban was imposed, according
to STR figures, hotel occupancy for the following year was a mere 33.6% - last
year it had already climbed to 59.7%.
“Looking further than its current top
source markets, the 2020 influx of UK visitors, the bulk of Russian visitors
still to come back, as well as the Chinese market, the future looks promising
for Egyptian tourism,” said Curtis
ATM, considered by industry professionals as a barometer
for the Middle East and North Africa tourism sector, welcomed almost 40,000
people to its 2019 event with representation from 150 countries. With over 100
exhibitors making their debut, ATM 2019 showcased the largest ever exhibition
from Asia.
Adopting Events for Tourism Growth as the
official show theme, ATM 2020 will build on the success of this year’s edition
with a host of seminar sessions discussing the impact events have on tourism
growth in the region while inspiring the travel and hospitality industry about
the next generation of events.
Tags: ATM 2020
