Egypt ranks 1st in Africa in 2021 Travel and Tourism Development Index

Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 25 May 2022

Egypt ranked first in Africa, fifth in the Middle East and North Africa, and 51st globally in the World Economic Forum’s recently released 2021 Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI).

Egypt ranks 1st in Africa, 5th in MENA

 

The TTDI is an evolution of the 15-year-old Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) series, a flagship index of the World Economic Forum’s platform for Shaping the Future of Mobility.

Covering 117 economies, the TTDI benchmarks and measures “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn contributes to the development of a country.”

Egypt has had the second biggest percentage improvement in the entire index, with its overall rankings rising by six positions from the 2019 version, ranking 51st globally, fifth in MENA, and first in Africa with a score of 4.2/7, according to the TTDI.

This comes at a time when Egypt’s tourism sector has been struggling to recover from the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as the country heavily relies on visitors from both countries.

In the second half of 2021, Egypt’s tourism sector had picked up momentum thanks to the return of Russian tourists to Sinai in August and the holding of high-profile events such as the glitzy Pharaohs’ Golden Parade in Cairo in April and the opening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor in late November.

According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt received 3.5 million tourists in the first six months of 2021, garnering revenues of $3.5 to $4 billion, which is almost equal to all the revenues gained in 2020 when the sector had begun to recover following setbacks caused by COVID-19.

In April, the UK’s Daily Mail news website selected Egypt as one of the best tourist destinations for the spring and summer of 2022, coming in second place on the list of top holiday destinations.

In the same month, Tripadvisor, the world's largest travel guidance platform, named Cairo the second most trending destination in the world and the ninth best destination for city lovers in 2022.

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