4 million tourists visited Egypt in 2016: minister

About four million tourists visited Egypt since the start of 2016, including 1.5 million from Arab countries, the Egyptian tourism minister informed a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday.

Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed noted that some 14.7 million tourists visited the most populous Arab country in 2010, before the political turmoil and related security issues which subsequently hit the country in the ensuing years.

"Arab tourists are the future of tourism in Egypt due to the geographic closeness of Arab states," the minister elaborated, stressing that 1.5 million Arab tourists visited the country in 2016 compared to two million in 2010.

"This shows that Arab tourism in Egypt has not declined to a point that stirs up any issues," Rashed said, expecting a sizable increase in Arab visitors to Egypt in 2017.

Employing about four million people, the tourism sector is one of Egypt's main sources of national income and foreign currency, bringing the country about 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 alone.

Egypt's tourism industry suffered after a Russian plane crash in Sinai killed over 200 Russian nationals in October 2015, as well as Italian student's ambiguous death in Cairo in February and a tragic EgyptAir flight crash in May which killed all 66 passengers onboard, including 15 French nationals. Endit