WTM London: Egypt Outlines its 'Unmatched Diversity' to Travel Media

ITTN’s Katie Doyle attended World Travel Market in London this week – connecting, collaborating and catching up with trade across three days of meetings, conference, seminars and more.

On Tuesday, Katie had the opportunity to sit down with H.E. Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities alongside UK journalists. Earlier this year, WTM announced the Egyptian Tourism Authority as its Premier Partner for 2026. The country has had a presence at every event since the inaugural WTM London which took place in 1980. In recent years, the authority has significantly strengthened its presence at WTM London. Its stand-space expanded by more than 20% between 2023 and 2024, followed by a further increase of over 50% in 2025. Overall, this represents an almost 90% growth since 2023, with the stand in 2025 welcoming around 90 co‑exhibitors.

A Strong Tourism Outlook

Sitting down at the round-table on Tuesday, H.E. Sherif Fathy spoke to the country’s tourism statistics and what they’re looking forward to in 2027. In 2025, Egypt welcomed 19 million international visitors, a 24% increase on 2024 and well above the global growth rate of 5%. Egypt is served by flights from over 200 cities around the globe, that come to the country to transit alongside the broader appeal of Egypt’s tourism that attracts a global demographic of tourists. Looking ahead, the government is aiming to achieve 30 million tourist arrivals by 2031.

Of the 19 million international visitors, the average stay is 10 nights and direct income from tourism is estimated to be equivalent to 19 billion US dollars, not accounting for indirect revenue generated from tourism activities. When asked about how these figures would have changed - had the Middle East Conflict not happened earlier this year - Sherif Fahy told the roundtable, the average annual growth comparison from January to March was 18% - so it's about four to six percent below last year. But, he said, the country recovered quickly by maintaining the airline capacity on Egyptian destinations.

The theme of Egypt this year is ‘Unmatched Diversity’: “our focus is and will remain for years on showcasing diversity,” said Fathy, “and you can feel that in terms of experiences, not just location.” Egypt’s Tourism Board want to put an emphasis on their connectivity to the country from international airlines alongside EgyptAir – the national flag carrier of Egypt, headquartered at Cairo International Airport. They’re also investing in infrastructure within the country, developing its first-ever high-speed electric rail network, with trial operations for the initial section scheduled to begin in late 2026. Built in partnership with a consortium including Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction, and The Arab Contractors, the project will eventually span nearly 2,000 kilometres across 60 cities. With the high-speed train network and more internal flights, Egypt wants to make accessibility across the country more feasible. By the project’s end, tourists will be able to get from San Al-Qasr to Luxor and Aswan within an hour; combine the North Coast with the Oasis of Siwa and travel across the region with more ease.

Attracting More Tourism in 2027

Excitingly, Egypt is preparing for the solar eclipse next year. Taking place on August 2 2027, it is widely called the "eclipse of the century" as Egypt will experience one of the longest land-based totality durations in decades. Luxor will offer near-maximum totality lasting 6 minutes and 22 seconds, with clear summer skies. Asyut will have 100% totality with a duration of 6 minutes and 8 second and Siwa Oasis will sees 100% totality with a duration of 5 minutes and 31 seconds. Other areas including Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh will experience deep partial-to-high obscuration (over 95%).

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is celebrating it's first birthday this week and continues to be a huge draw to tourism in the country. Located on the Giza Plateau near the pyramids, it's the world's largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilization. It houses over 100,000 artifacts covering 7,000 years of Egyptian history, from the Predynastic Period through the Greco-Roman era – key attractions include the King Tutankhamun Collection, Ramses II Statue, its Grand Staircase and the Statue of Hatshepsut.

On their first day opening to the public, the museum recorded 27,400 visitors with another 30,000 people waiting outside – comparatively, the Giza Pyramids’ highest record is 30,000 in one day. In order to ensure that visitors enjoy their experience, and not suffer from high density, the government now limits the number of visitors to 15,000 per day. They have also introduced a slot management booking system to make visitation to the museum easy and accessible. Fathy also pointed to the fact that the museum includes Islamic, Ottoman and other antiquities from around the world and the museum is fast becoming a standalone attraction.

Although the average stay is 10 nights, “Cairo,” Fathy said, “deserves more than a week” and so the government will continue on improving the infrastructure in the city's historic neighbourhoods, introducing better connectivity to allow tourists to explore more of the area. A new Cairo City Break initiative aims to convert the average transiter into an exploring tourist and new regional strategies also aim to promote Alexandria’s historical areas to add to Egypt’s portfolio.

The Red Sea is expanding as a destination with an enlarged airport to keep up with demand. Soma Bay, a luxury self-contained resort peninsula, and Sharm El Sheikh, offering marine adventures, desert excursions, and vibrant local culture, are both seeing expansion to keep up with tourism numbers. After a 16-year absence, Jet2 is also returning to Egypt with year-round service to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh beginning in February next year, with 18 weekly flights from six UK airports. There will be about 169,000 seats in the first year of operation with four exclusive routes from Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh, and London Stansted and a five-hour flight time.

Irish People in Egypt

At the roundtable Tuesday, ITTN’s Katie pointed to the increased interest of Irish consumers who want to travel to Egypt, with the success of river cruises along the Nile fuelling much of this new interest.

               “I would love to see more Irish people go to Egypt,” said H.E. Sherif Fathy, pointing to his passion about the Irish market and working on the connection between Ireland and Egypt, “this question really interests me, and it makes me want to look at it more closely with my colleagues. I think we need to do better in terms of marketing. We would love to welcome more Irish here.”

When pressed on the river cruise question, Fathy hinted that there may be a big announcement coming in the new year as companies continue to see the Nile as a must-have destination. Several new luxury and premium riverboats and ships have recently debuted or are rolling out on the Nile River. This includes Abercrombie & Kent's ultra-luxury 32-suite riverboat Nile Seray, AmaWatereway's AmaNubia luxury ship that operates an 11-night roundtrip Cairo itinerary - both launching this month. Viking is expanding their Nile fleet to eight vessels, while Travelmarvel Sirius debuted in September.

EgyptAir's MS776 flies Dublin to Cairo 4 days a week with a flight time just over 5 hours