The minister's remarks came during a debate in Egypt's Senate over the government's strategy to promote tourism over the next five years.

"The maximum number of tourists Egypt can attract per year currently ranges between 14-15 million," Issa explained.

"Right now we have 1,200 tourist hotels, 1,300 tourist restaurants, 12,000 tourist guides, 2,200 tourist companies, 130 archeological sites and 31 museums," he said.

"We have to double our hotel rooms, offer low-cost air travel and diversify our tourist products in order to achieve the target of attracting 30 million tourists per year," said Issa.

"Right now we are exerting greater efforts to attract more Chinese tourists to Egypt and I can say that there are around 30 million Chinese who are interested in visiting Egypt over the next few years," said Issa.

The minister's statement on the prospects of receiving more tourism from China came just two days after Cairo Internatiuonal Airport received on Friday its first group of tourists from China following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Abbas Helmy and China’s Ambassador in Cairo Liao Liqiang received the Chinese tourists. 

Liao expressed his appreciation to Egypt for not imposing any restrictions on travelers from China to Egypt.

He also added that Egypt is among the first countries to receive Chinese tourists following the pandemic.

He stressed that the Chinese foreign minister pays great attention to the operation of Chinese flights to Cairo and provides all facilities for flights between the two countries.

Semi-official figures show that around half a million Chinese tourists visited Egypt in 2018.

Issa explained that "most of Chinese tourists who wish to visit Egypt come for cultural purposes."

"We want to diversify our products to offer these tourists recreational tourism, adventure and entertainment activities and medical treatment," said Issa.

Senators said the tourism ministry's promotional strategy should focus on Asian markets, particularly the Chinese market.

"Egypt should offer greater facilities such as low-cost air travel and exemption from airport visas," said Senator Ihab Wahba.