Egypt is planning to introduce a multi-year visa for the first time ever, while making its visa-on-arrival eligible for more nationalities, including China, Iran, India, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria and China and Israel.
According to the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Ahmed Issa, a five-year multiple-entry visa will become available for $700. At the same time, the 30-day single-entry visa on arrival can now be obtained by more than 180 nationalities for $25, VisaGuide.World reports.
He also pointed out that such a move has come in an attempt to increase foreign tourism, and thus, tourism revenue.
As the Minister Issa explains, all Chinese tourists will now be eigible to obtain an entry visa-on-arrival in Egypt, while Indian tourists will be required to have a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) resident visa in order to get an entry visa-on-arrival in Egypt.
Turkish tourists can also get an entry visa to Egypt upon arrival without age restrictions, whereas Algerian and Moroccan tourists can get such a visa only if they are part of a tourist group.
Egyptian authorities have recently announced that tourists from Iran are allowed to obtain a visa-on-arrival when going to South Sinai too, though only through a certified travel agency.
In addition, the Ministry of Tourism has revealed that Israeli tourists will only be able to come in groups to Hurghada with certified tourist companies.
As for those coming from Iraq, they can now obtain a visa-on-arrival in Egypt provided they have a valid and used visa in the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Japan, Australia, Canada or New Zealand.
Last year alone, Egypt welcomed a total of 11.7 million tourists and is also looking to increase this figure by 25 to 30 percent annually to reach 30 million by 2028.
Even during the first two months of this year, the country saw an increase in the number of tourists by more than 30 percent, compared to the same period last year.
As the two main tourist sources for Egypt, which are Russia and Ukraine, due to the war that started last year, arrivals from these two countries have decreased by 40 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
Even China is claiming to occupy the place in the top ten source markets for Egypt, since in 2019 about 220,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt, out of 150 million Chinese tourists worldwide.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Egyptian tourism sector hard with revenues falling from $13.03 billion in 2019 to $4.1 billion in 2020. However, during 2021 the sector began to recover as Egypt generated $10.7 billion in tourism revenue in period 2021-2022, from $4.9 billion in 2020-2021.
The post Egypt to Offer 5-Year Valid Visas for a Fee of $700 appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
