Egypt offers new facilities to lure Indian tourists

Egypt seeks to offer new facilities to increase the number of tourists coming from Asia, especially India, which accounts for 3.5 percent of all tourists coming to the country, Egypt's tourism minister said on Wednesday. Increasing the number of charter flights to Egypt, facilitating entry visa procedures for Indian tourists, improving trainings given to tourism workers and installing cameras at airports to mirror the real situation in Egypt are among the facilities Egypt plan to introduce to lure Indian tourists, Hisham Zazou said at the opening of the Egyptian-Indian Business Council here. The number of Indian tourists to Egypt rose from 88,000 in 2008 to 114,000 in 2010 then it went back after the January 25 revolution to rise again to 82,000 now, the minister said. For both Egypt and India, the tourism industry is really important for boosting their economies, he said, noting that tourism accounts for 11.3 percent of Egypt's. Gross Domestic Product and 12.6 percent of the total workforce.