Egypt’s tourism sector incurred losses in expected income of around $2.5 billion since the revolution started in January 2011, state-run daily newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Thursday, citing the minister of tourism.

About 11.5 million tourists visited the country in 2012 and generated some $10 billion in revenues.

In 2010, around 14.7 million tourists visited Egypt, generating $12.5 billion in revenues, official data showed.

Hisham Zaazou, Egypt’s minister of tourism, will reportedly launch a live streaming channel to allow tourists to ascertain the security situation in Egypt, and to promote the country as a safe tourist destination.

The ministry will provide big screens to different countries, to display live images from Egypt. The move comes after an agreement was made with the state’s ministry of telecommunication.

Earlier on Thursday, the ministry of planning stated that the tourism sector saw figures of 6.3 million tourists and $5.6 billion in revenues in the first half of the current fiscal year 2012/13.

This represented a 10 percent rise in tourist numbers and a 12 percent rise in revenues compared with the first half of the last fiscal year.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/65304.aspx