Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, revealed the country's new headline attraction – Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum – has attracted more than five million visitors in its first year, with authorities planning a campaign to emphasise the city’s appeal to visitors.
Fathy said such was the attraction's popularity, numbers were limited to 15,000 a day through bookable slots to avoid overcrowding. “We will maintain that," he said, adding more than 27,000 entered the building on its opening day.
The minister explained work was under way in the Egyptian capital to improve infrastructure around key attractions and that he was preparing a campaign around Cairo city breaks. EasyJet now flies to Cairo from Manchester and Luton.
"We have a team working on short stays for transit passengers – the museum added an important piece to the portfolio in Cairo,” Fathy said, albeit while stressing Cairo “deserves a week minimum”.
Fathy also revealed he was looking at plans to expand Marsa Alam airport on the Red Sea coast “as soon as possible” due to capacity issues.
Egypt’s visitor arrivals are up by 4.5% so far this year, although the UK is outpacing this. UK numbers from January to September reached 838,000, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year.
Jet2 return, Irish market and Nile cruises
Fathy hailed the return of Jet2holidays to Egypt after 16 years as “very important” for the country, with the operator poised to start operating flights and package holidays in February 2027.
Jet2 confirmed plans to return to Egypt in November 2025, and Fathy revealed the brand – prior to the war in the Middle East – had considered bringing the start of the programme forward to November this year.
He added he was keen to secure air links with Ireland. “I would love to see more Irish people coming; the issue is connectivity. So far, the assessment is there is not enough volume, most Irish travellers connect through other points.”
Fathy also said he had worked to attract more river cruise ships to the Nile, promising some new brand entrants. “There will be more international players in this business very soon,” he added.
