Economy

Egypt invites Chinese delegation to promote tourism

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-10 15:43

CAIRO -- A Chinese delegation of 18 journalists arrived in Cairo on Monday for a five-day tour, at the invitation of Egyptian authorities who aim to attract Chinese tourists to the country.

The delegation came from 12 media organizations such as newspapers, websites and radio stations based in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province.

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Khaled el-Kholy, head of the Egypt Solar Empire travel agency, said the Chinese delegation will visit the Egyptian Museum, Luxor and Hurghada during their travel.

Mass protests dealt a heavy blow to Egypt's tourism, a key source of income for the country. The revenue of this sector is forecast to fall 25 percent this year.

Egypt's Tourism Minister Munir Abdel Nour said in March a sharp fall of tourist arrivals due to the unrest had caused economic losses of more than $1 billion. From February to April, there would be an estimated reduction of 3 million tourists, which may lead to losses of $2.3 billion, he added.

The minister believed the tourism of Egypt could fully recover and make up for the losses Egypt suffered at the end of this year.

Last year, the country hosted 12.7 million tourists and reaped $13 billion, or 11.3 percent of its gross domestic product. The number of Chinese tourists to Egypt last year stood at 106,000.