Egypt’s newest president doesn’t plan on introducing any new restrictions for foreign tourists

The Islamic Party of Freedom and Justice (the FJP), whose candidate Mohammed Morsi won the presidential election in Egypt, does not plan on introducing any kind of restrictions for foreign tourists. Further more straight after the elections, Mohammed Morsi left the ranks of the „Muslim Brothers“ association, of which he was a part, and also the political wing „Brothers“ – The Party of Freedom and Justice. Earlier on, the islamic contingent hinted at the possibility of introducing new restictions in the tourisim sphere, for example the prohibition of alcohol, and women walking around in revealing swim wear outside the area of their hotels. How ever now, representatives from the same party are saying that tourism will remain the leading part of the countries economy.

More than that, Islamists are promising to address the improvement of the countries tourism image. First and foremost, the new authorities will attend to the issue of cleanliness on the streets of Cairo, and also, the organization of traffic on the roads. “We want the tourists to be able to visit all of the historical monuments without any problems, including the Pyramids of Giza“, - Ahmed Al-Imam, the official representative of the tourisim committee of the FJP told RIA “NEWS”. He  acknowledged the fact that the future of Egypt‘s tourism deirectly depends on the political situation in the country. „The new government will concentrate on the realisation of the new tourism project, as soon as the country gains some political stability“, he added. At the same time he could not give an answer to the question , if the current minister of tourisim Christian Mounir Fakhri Abdennur will remain at his post, or not.

According to the words of Ahmed Al-Imam, with in the frameworks of the large scale project which focusses on the development of inbound tourism, in 2017 Egypt already plans to welcome 20-25 million tourists yearly. Before, the best year for Egypt’s tourist sector was 2010 – the last year of ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s reign, when 14 million foreign tourists visited the Country of Pyramids. After the national uprising in early 2011 and the subsequent resignation of Mubarak, the tour flow decreased to just 9 million. For the realisation of its plans, Egypt’s authorities want to double the number of hotel rooms with in four years, and bring the figures up to 435 thousand.

Islamists are determined to widen the spectre of tourism programs, in order to make a holiday in Egypt even more attractive. This includes desert safaris, beach holidays, and resort tourism. In particular, this project is already being realised with the resurrection of cruises along the Nile from Cairo to Aswan, which is located in the South of the country.

A reminder that in 2011, nearly 1.5 million Russians visited Egypt. This country has become the 3rd most popular holiday destination amongst Russian tourists, after Turkey and China respectively.