Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism keeps the price of entry visas

The Egyptian government retreated from its decision to raise the price of entry visas to $ 60, and decided to keep their current prices at $ 25.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Yahia Rashed said, during a press conference in the headquarters of Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism, that the entry visa will remain at $ 25, while the multi-visit visa will be at $ 60 for six months.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism decided to raise the price of entry visa from $ 25 to $ 60 in February. It also raised the price of multi-visit visa to $ 70. The decision was supposed to be implemented in March. The decision raised a state of resentment among the experts and travel agents.

Many experts said that the decision would lead negative repercussions on the vital sector which already suffers from the current critical conditions witnessed in the country.

The tourism industry witnesses serious problem during the current period since January 25 Revolution that overthrew Egypt’s former regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The vital sector, which is considered a cornerstone of Egypt’s economy, has deteriorated due to the political developments and terrorist attacks that hit the country.

On the other hand, World Travel and Tourism Council said that Egypt’s tourism recorded the worst among the major tourist destinations last year, while it has been followed by Turkey. It added that the areas that recorded notable development were in Asia.

According to the council’s report, Egypt’s tourism witnessed notable decline by 80 percent since 2010 due to the political instability and increasing terrorist operations. The number of tourists visiting the country has dropped from 14 to 5 million visitors annually.

However, the Tourist sector has not been strongly affected in Tunisia by the political developments witnessed in the country during the recent years. The report added that the tourist revenues in Tunisia have dropped by only 2.5 percent despite the terrorist attacks that targeted the tourists in 2015.

The number of tourists witnessed slight increase during the last year to reach to six million visitors with revenues $ 1.6 billion.