Tourism: Rise in Swiss tourists visiting Egypt

Egypt State Information Service

Egypt's Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana said the number of Swiss tourists visiting Egypt increased during the last five years.

In 2006, some 120,000 Swiss tourists visited Egypt, Garana said in a speech at the inaugural session of the annual conference of Swiss Travel Agencies Federation.

The gathering is being held in Egypt for the first time.

Garana underlined great development in the Egyptian tourism sector during the past two decades.

Tourism became one of the main sources of income, he said, citing non-stop investment in infrastructure and sustainable development in human resources in the tourism sector.

Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana said some 9.1 million tourists visited the country last year.

They spent 89 million tourist nights, he added, estimating revenues from tourism at $ 7.6 billion.

Garana expected the number of tourists visiting Egypt to reach 14 million by 2011.

Hans-Jorg Leuzinger, the head of the Swiss Travel Agencies Federation, thanked Garana for hosting their annual conference in Egypt.