Egypt's tourism revenue dropped 15 percent to reach US$1.7 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2015 compared to $2 billion in the same period last year, according to daily business newspaper Al Borsa.
The total number of tourists visiting Egypt in 3Q 2015 fell 7 percent to reach 2.5 million compared with 3Q 2014, said Adala Rajab, economic advisor to the tourism minister.
These figures were recorded before the Russian plane crash last week.
European tourism represents about 72.8 percent of the total tourism flow to Egypt, reaching 1.9 million tourists in 3Q 2015, Adala added.
Egypt risks losing vitally important tourism revenue if security concerns stop people from flying to its Red Sea resort at Sharm el-Sheik. Russians and British tourists make up a large share of the tourism traffic, and the recent outflow of these tourists has caused concern.
Russian tourists are ranked first with 3 million tourists per year and Britain came in second with 1 million, according to 2014 numbers from the Tourism Ministry.
Tourism Ministry advisor Mohamed Yousef said losing those tourists would be “a severe blow” to the industry, according to Al-Ahram newspaper.
“Their leaving is a severe blow for the industry. The loss will be 70 percent of the tourist influx,” he added.
Egypt's tourism, an important sector of the economy, generates more than 11 percent of the country’s GDP.
Tourism revenues rose 27 percent to $7.5 billion in 2014 from $5.9 billion the previous year.
