The Egyptian ministry of tourism has said that the number of tourists visiting Egypt in the first ten months of 2009 dropped 4.5% compared to the same period last year, Reuters has reported. About 10.9 million tourists visited Egypt in the first ten months of this year, spending nearly 106.3 million room nights, the ministry said. The ministry expects total arrivals for the year to fall between two and three percent versus 2008, less than it had previously feared, a ministry spokeswoman said.