OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026

Egypt

Egypt: Key tourism messages 2026

 

Tourism direct GDP	Tourism direct employment (2025)	Travel exports (2024)
-	13% of total employment1 (no historic data)	51.7% of total service exports (up 9.8 percentage points since 2023)

1. This number refers to all individuals working in hotels, touristic establishments, tour guides, yachting and marine activities, bazaars and touristic commodities in Egypt.

National tourism strategy: National Tourism Strategic Plan for the period 2025–2031

Responsible government agency: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

National tourism budget: -

Key tourism policy priorities and actions:

• Highlighting the unmatched diversity of the country’s attractions – Launching global marketing campaigns that showcase unique heritage sites, natural landscapes, and cultural experiences to international travellers.

• Driving foreign investment for tourism – Creating a comprehensive, regularly updated Tourism Investment Map that highlights sector-wide opportunities.

• Expanding tourism accommodation offering – Increasing the number of rooms through the establishment of new hotels and the regulation of non-traditional accommodation.

• Developing human resources in tourism – Providing accessible online training in technical and soft skills for the tourism and antiquities workforce through a digital training platform.

Tourism in the economy and outlook

Tourism represents a fundamental pillar of the Egyptian national economy, serving as a critical driver of employment, foreign exchange earnings, and inclusive economic growth. In 2024, Egypt recorded an unprecedented 15.8 million international tourist arrivals, surpassing the pre-pandemic peak of 13 million in 2019. This recovery came primarily from European markets, which accounted for more than 10.2 million arrivals, representing 65% of the total. This reflected strong demand and enhanced air connectivity with major source markets such as Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The Middle East was the second-largest source region, contributing 3.2 million visitors (20.5% share). International tourist arrivals to Egypt have continued their upward momentum in 2025.

The number of tourist nights exhibited a similar upward trajectory, rising from 136.3 million in 2019 to 164.4 million in 2024 – an increase of 20.6%. These increases led to a total of USD 15.3 billion in tourism revenues in 2024.

Tourism governance

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is the central authority responsible for formulating and implementing Egypt’s tourism policy. Its mandate includes establishing a coherent legal and regulatory framework for tourism development, as well as safeguarding and preserving Egypt’s rich heritage and ancient history.

The Egyptian Tourism Authority operates under the Ministry and is responsible for promoting both inbound and domestic tourism. It oversees the development and diversification of Egypt’s tourism offerings, ensuring alignment with regional and international market trends. The Ministry also oversees the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Support Fund, a dedicated financial mechanism established to provide sustainable funding for both the tourism sector and the antiquities sector. The Fund pools resources from multiple revenue streams to finance promotional campaigns, conservation projects, and infrastructure development, while also ensuring crisis-response capacity for the sector.

The Egyptian Tourism Federation (ETF) and its affiliated chambers represent the interests of the private sector and maintain close collaboration with the Ministry. The ETF contributes to the formulation and implementation of Egypt’s national tourism strategy and provides input on tourism-related legislation and regulation.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recognises the importance of an effective institutional framework that enables horizontal co-ordination across ministries and public institutions. Two key bodies include the Cabinet Tourism Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister and composed largely of governmental representatives with private sector participation, and the Cabinet Tourism Advisory Council, which is predominantly constituted by private sector stakeholders.

Egypt: Organisational chart of tourism bodies

Source: OECD, adapted from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, 2026.

Tourism policies and programmes

Tourism in Egypt is guided by the National Tourism Strategic Plan, adopted in December 2024, for the period 2025-2031. The Strategic Plan aims to help achieve sustainable economic security in tourism and antiquities in a way that positively impacts society and the economy and contributes to enhancing national social development. The overarching goal is to increase international tourist arrivals to 30 million by 2031. The Plan is structured around six strategic pillars:

• Enhancing the competitiveness of tourism investment to attract increased levels of foreign investment.

• Leveraging Egypt’s tourism diversity as a core element of the country’s marketing strategy.

• Developing human resources and building human capital across all sub-sectors.

• Advancing governance and oversight tools within tourism and antiquities, while improving the overall visitor experience through upgraded services.

• Promoting sustainability initiatives and advancing the digital and environmental transformation of the sector, ensuring long-term sector resilience.

• Designing and implementing a comprehensive and effective marketing strategy to promote Egypt’s destinations and products.

To achieve the 2031 target, the Plan places particular emphasis on strengthening the supply side of Egypt’s tourism sector, expanding hotel capacity and the number of inbound airline seats to sustainably accommodate rising international demand. In 2024, Egypt added 7 200 new hotel rooms, with more than half representing newly established properties. According to a recent update in March 2026, about 40 000 to 50 000 hotel rooms are currently under construction.

The Plan also outlines key priorities and initiatives to be implemented in the coming years, aimed at achieving the sector’s strategic objectives and enhancing its global competitiveness. These include:

• Expanding tourism products – Broaden Egypt’s tourism portfolio to attract a more diverse visitor base. This includes the development and promotion of MICE tourism, yacht and nautical tourism, medical and wellness tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, and sports and adventure tourism. These are being developed alongside traditional cultural and coastal tourism products to offer a more integrated experience.

• Diversifying source markets – Target a wider spectrum of international markets to build resilience against external shocks and enable more sustainable growth. Egypt has intensified its efforts to attract new and emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, while maintaining strong relations with traditional markets in Europe and the Arab region.

• Increasing hotel capacity – Increase the tourist accommodation supply from 228 000 rooms to 484 000 rooms by 2030 (per the March 2026 update).

• Promoting investment opportunities – Launch a flagship initiative to create a comprehensive, regularly updated Tourism Investment Map that highlights sector-wide opportunities.

• Regulating non-traditional accommodation – Establish a formal framework for holiday homes and alternative lodging options, setting out the mandatory facilities, specifications, and amenities required.

• Developing cross-border tourism co-operation – Develop tourism products with neighbouring countries, such as the Holy Family Trail in partnership with Jordan.

• Digital training platform – Provide accessible online training in technical and soft skills for the tourism and antiquities workforce. The platform focuses on technical knowledge and soft skills, directly contributing to improved service quality and tourist satisfaction.

• Smart ticketing systems – Expand digital ticketing across archaeological and tourist sites to streamline access and improve visitor experience. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is implementing a digital ticketing system to support individual sites to enhance digital, contactless entry, and online booking capabilities. This phased initiative improves visitor flows and operational management at key locations like the Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum, Luxor and Karnak Temples.

• Sustainability of attractions – Protect vulnerable archaeological sites from environmental and human pressures through sustainable management. The initiatives focus on key actions, including conservation and restoration projects for monuments threatened by environmental factors or urban expansion, and deploying advanced monitoring systems to prevent structural damage. To manage visitor impact, the strategy enforces capacity limits and controlled access in sensitive areas, while promoting responsible tourism through awareness campaigns. These measures provide better facilities while securing the long-term protection of archaeological sites.

• Green transition – Promote clean and renewable energy adoption while encouraging compliance with environmental certification standards (see box below).

• Global digital marketing – Leverage international digital infrastructure and technologies to strengthen Egypt’s global visibility and competitiveness.

• Facilitating travel access – Egypt is working to modernise its visa system to integrate all types of tourism visas within a unified framework to simplify entry procedures, improve accessibility for inbound tourists, and ensure a smooth and efficient travel experience for tourists.

Transitioning to a greener tourism economy in Egypt

In line with Egypt’s national goals for environmental sustainability and climate action, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is supporting clean and renewable energy solutions. Key actions include:

• Expanding the use of solar and renewable energy systems in archaeological sites, museums, visitor centres, hotels, and tourism facilities.

• Encouraging hotels, resorts, and tourism companies to adopt sustainable practices and apply for recognised environmental certifications, such as Green Star Hotel, Travel life, Green Globe, Earth Check and ISO 14001.

• Promoting awareness among tourism stakeholders about the economic, reputational, and environmental benefits of transitioning to clean and renewable energy solutions.

• Supporting partnerships with the private sector and international organisations to finance and implement clean energy projects in tourism-related infrastructure.

These efforts contribute to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint and positioning Egypt as an environmentally responsible destination, in line with global sustainability standards.

Egypt - Statistical profile

Domestic, inbound and outbound

Enterprises and employment

Internal consumption

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