Egypt’s government is taking measures to rebuild confidence in the country’s tourism industry following the 2011 revolution and ongoing political instability.

Egypt’s tourism minister, Mohamed Hisham Abbas Zaazou, says that outside Tahrir Square, Egypt is “safe, secure and open for business”.

Tourism is a vital sector in Egypt’s economy. It contributes 11.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) directly and indirectly, and accounts for 12.6 per cent of the country’s direct and indirect employment opportunities. It also represents 14.4 per cent of Egypt’s source of foreign exchange.

The government has set a target to boost tourist numbers to 30 million and to increase tourist receipts to $25bn by 2022.

There are also plans to increase investment in hotels. Currently, there are 200,000 rooms in Egypt and the target is to introduce a further 208,000 rooms over the next three to five years.

Egypt’s aviation sector is forecast to grow. In 2012, there were 2.9 billion passengers passing through Egypt’s airports. This total is forecast to increase to 6.3bn passengers by 2030.

Revenues from tourism in 2012 grew compared with 2011 reaching $10bn, but have yet to return to the highs seen in 2010 where revenues reached $12.5bn.

There has been an increase in Arab tourists to Egypt. In 2012, the number of Arab tourists increased to 2.3 million, rising from 1.8 million in 2011 and 2.1 million the previous year.