Egypt’s tourism sector is witnessing robust growth in 2025, with hotel occupancy averaging more than 80% across major tourist destinations and international arrivals up 23% since the start of the year compared with 2024, Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy said.
Speaking to Asharq Bloomberg, Fathy projected that tourist arrivals will grow between 15% and 20% for the full year, noting that last year’s 15.8% increase relative to available rooms was already considered a strong performance.
He revealed that the upcoming inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will serve as a major new attraction to draw additional visitors.
Fathy revealed that 6,000 new hotel rooms were added during the first half of 2025, with further capacity expected to open later this year.
He said the government will on Monday review the master plan for the Giza Plateau area stretching from Sphinx International Airport to Saqqara, prepared by a global consultancy firm. The plan will determine the number and type of hotel rooms to be developed in the area.
According to the numbers of the government, Tourism revenues climbed 22% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, reaching $8 billion, the minister said earlier this month.
In 2024, Egypt launched a 50 billion Egyptian pound ($1 billion) initiative to support tourism companies in expanding hotel capacity. The program offers loans at a declining interest rate of 12%, with a financing cap of 1 billion pounds per company and 2 billion pounds for related entities, on the condition that beneficiaries sell 40% of their foreign-currency revenues to local banks.
Applications for financing under the initiative have far exceeded its allocations, surpassing 200 billion pounds—four times the original envelope.
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