Egypt aims to attract 12 million tourists in FY 19/20 -document

CAIRO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Egypt aims to attract 12 million tourists in the 2019-2020 financial year, an 11% increase from the year before, a government document seen by Reuters showed.

The document also showed that the government aims to increase the number of tourism nights spent in the country to 127 million compared to 113 million nights in financial year 2018-2019.

Tourism is a pillar of Egypt’s economy and a crucial source of hard currency. The liberalisation of the pound’s exchange rate in November 2016, which reduced the value of the local currency by half, has helped make the industry more competitive and enhanced Egypt’s attractiveness as a destination.

The Egyptian pound currency has strengthened nearly 7% against the dollar since the beginning of 2019, currently trading at 16.5 against the dollar.

Egypt’s financial year runs from July to June. ($1 = 16.4800 Egyptian pounds)