Egypt looks to Gulf to revive tourism sector affected by Russian-Ukrainian war

Egypt is seeking to increase Arab tourism from the Gulf at a time when the vital tourism sector has struggled to overcome the setback it suffered with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The war that broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February has hindered the normal influx of tourists from the two countries, while they constituted about a third of the total number of tourists who flocked to Egypt annually.

Tourism, along with the revenues of the Suez Canal and the remittances of workers abroad, constitutes one of the main sources of foreign currency in the country, which has been weighed down by the pressure of the war in Ukraine on its economy, as it struggles with an unprecedented wave of inflation.

Egypt adopted harsh measures in an attempt to overcome the repercussions of the war, including the devaluation of the local currency by 15% in March. It also resorted to the International Monetary Fund to seek an emergency aid program to address the current economic crisis.