The shifting dynamics of Egypt’s tourism turnaround: Egypt’s tourist numbers soared 55% last year, even as European numbers dipped, with Chinese and regional tourists supplanting them. “The European market, including Russia, accounted for almost 80% (of tourists), but now, 52%,” said Hisham El Demeiry, head of the Tourism Promotion Authority, according to Yahoo News. Chinese and Indian visitors rose from 5% last year to 12%, while tourists from Egypt’s neighbours doubled their market share from 15% to 30%, he added.

This comes as the flow of tourists to the Middle East grew 5% y-o-y in 2017, with our region drawing in 58 mn tourists last year, according to figures released last week by the UN World Tourism Organization (UN WTO). This came on the back of “sustained growth in some destinations and a strong recovery in others” after a devastating 2016, the report stated. Jihadist attacks on tourist sites in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey in recent years particularly hit the industry, but “over time, people forget and return,” said Jalel Gasmi, head of Granada Travel Services, at the Fitur international tourism gathering in the Spanish capital. Chinese and Russian visitors were the biggest drivers of this regional growth, which is projected to rise another 4-6% in 2018, according to the WTO.

Despite being safer options for investors, Morocco and Tunisia could be replaced by Egypt as an alternative, which seems to offer “huge potential” despite considerable risks caused by possible political change, a higher rate of attacks­­, and other substantial economic problems, Jeremy Weltman writes for Euromoney. Weltman lists three main factors behind Egypt’s recent slow but discernible recovery: floating the Egyptian pound, benefiting from improving global trade, and gaining a three-year financing arrangement from the IMF. “Egypt is still a riskier prospect, but it is closing the gap and offers huge potential if the reforms continue.”