CAIRO – 18 June 2017: One million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Egypt by the end of next year, head of the Travelers Association Atef Abdel Latif stated to Al Shorouk newspaper on Sunday. Latif explained that Chinese authorities aim to increase tourism in countries of ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, Peru, India and China. They have arranged trips to Luxor and Aswan for next winter with Egyptian tourism companies. Latif added that the number of flights from Egypt to countries in South East Asia are very few, which can be an obstacle hindering the transportation of those huge numbers to Egypt, according to Al Shorouk newspaper. The association head said that tourists from those countries, especially Japan, China and India, are expected to sum up to two million starting from September until the end of the winter season, and that they would be focusing on archeological sites in Luxor and Aswan. Asian tourism would compensate for the decline in tourists’ numbers from Russia, Britain and Italy, and would revive archeological tourism in Luxor and Aswan, according to Al Shorouk newspaper. Latif said that flights between Cairo and countries with high demand on tourism in Egypt such as Japan, China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia must be activated by Egyptian airlines so that tourists don’t need to resort to foreign airline companies to arrive to Egypt.
Egypt is anticipating one million Chinese tourists by the end of 2018 on account of China's effort to boost tourism to locations associated with ancient civilisations, said Atef Abdel Latif, head of the Travelers Association. The Egyptian government has also been promoting its cultural heritage sites in China and encouraging more foreign visitors to visit Egypt, he said. Latif called on Egyptian airlines to make provisions for routes to countries with high tourist demand to ensure visitors aren't lost to foreign flight services.