Egypt received roughly 2.86 million tourists during the first quarter of 2013, a 14.4 percent rise compared with the same period of last year, announced tourism minister Hisham Zaazou.

Zaazou added that tourist numbers during the period from January to March show that the sector is recovering, and is expected to reach 2010 levels, when an estimated 14.7 million tourists visited Egypt generating $12.5 billion in revenue.

The number of Arab tourists visiting Egypt in the first three months of the current year rose by 7.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012, reaching 520,000.

The average length of tourist stays, however, grew to 37 million nights in the first quarter of 2013, compared with 29 million nights in the same period of last year.

According to official data, around 11.5 million tourists visited the country in 2012 and generated some $10 billion in revenue.

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