(3 minutes read)
- Egyptian tourism is benefitting from disruptions caused by COVID-19. Luck would have that now more Africans, especially Nigerians, visit the North African country for leisure
- Tourism traffic from Nigeria to Egypt has grown lately by 400 per cent
- Governments of Nigeria and UAE banned flights to and fro Dubai because of some bilateral issue
Egyptian tourism is benefitting from disruptions caused by COVID-19. Luck would have that now more Africans, especially Nigerians, visit the North African country for leisure. Tourism traffic from Nigeria to Egypt has grown lately by 400 per cent.
Governments of Nigeria and UAE banned flights to and fro Dubai because of some bilateral issues. Egypt Air saw that as an opportunity and decided to take advantage of it by collaborating with NANTA, the Nigerian tour operators association to increase trade and tourism between Nigeria and Egypt. Egypt has widely promoted the country as an ideal destination for Nigerians to visit. Earlier, Egypt used to attract around 50 Nigerian tourists a week. Now it has grown to 250 tourists a week, an appreciable increase despite the low base.
Egypt’s embassy in Abuja used to receive about 30 visa applications daily. Since July last year, the number has increased to 300 applications. Yet, the numbers below the expectation. There is a delay in processing the visa applications since there is a shortage of staff at the embassy. Earlier, Nigerians used to travel to Dubai. But when the ban was imposed on Nigerians, the Nigerian Tourism organization NANTA had to collaborate with African carriers to explore better options.
Egypt Air has had full flights to Nigeria. Also, those who had visited Egypt have something good to say about the destination. The traffic between the two countries gradually grew. The Nigerian tourism organization feels that Egypt has the potential to emerge as an ideal destination in view of its strong sectors such as education, medicine, fashion and entertainment. But the association feels that the visa processing at Egyptian embassy has to be speeded up to attract more traffic.
