Changes in the Tourist Air Transport in Egypt in 2005–2014

Abstract

Revolution, called the “Arab Spring” was reflected by the changes of air, tourist passenger traffic in North Africa, especially in Egypt and Tunisia. The main object of this study is to evaluate changes in the volume of tourism in Egypt. The aim of the paper is to show the size of the negative impact of political developments in Egypt, the decline of tourism and the tourism income in the country. The analysis is concerned with changes in the size of the tourist traffic to Egypt at selected airports. In Egypt, at the airport of Sharm El-Sheikh passenger traffic decreased by 37% in 2011 as compared to 2008, and in Hurghada by 27% for the same period. The stabilization of the political situation in the following years has increased the volume of air traffic. However, the military coup in 2013, once again led to a decline in tourist traffic. It was calming the political situation in 2014 resulted in an increase in the number of tourists. However, income from tourism in 2014 represent only 62% of the income of the best Egyptian tourist 2010. According to statistical data, the total number of foreign tourists who visited Egypt in 2011 declined by 33% compared to 2010. While in 2012 there was an increase in the number of tourists by 18% compared to 2011, but the following year, together with increased political events brought a decline of 15%, a slight 5% increase occurred only in 2014