“I wouldn’t worry too much about the higher fees actually going into effect. Egypt has a tendency to announce outlandish proposals and then rescind them after public outcries”, Ed — who is a reader of The Gate — posted in the Comments section of this article pertaining to the postponement of increase by 140 percent of the cost of visa fees until July for visitors to Egypt. “Egypt needs foreign investment and tourism…badly…especially after floating the currency and inflation at an all time high. They may eventually raise visa fees IF they see that tourism starts to pick up again. I wouldn’t bet on that anytime soon though…”
Egypt Keeps Single-Entry Visa Fee Unchanged — But…
Some good advice was imparted by Ed: the Cabinet of Ministers of Egypt decided in its meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 that the price of a tourist single entry visa to Egypt should be kept at the present limit of $25.00 instead of the original intent of increasing it by 140 percent to $60.00 — as originally proposed in late February for last month — on account of the current situation of the tourism industry…
…but “the Cabinet approved raising the fees for 6-month multiple entry visa from US$25 to US$60, Egypt’s Tourism Minister Yahya Rashed said during a press conference on Tuesday”, according to this article written by Al-Masry Al-Youm of Egypt Independent; but in reference to the cost of the single-entry visa, “Ramy Rizkallah, a member of the Committee to Promote Tourism to Sharm el-Sheikh Resort, welcomed the decision, describing it as a positive incentive for tour operators abroad to work with Egypt. He added that tourism sector workers hope to increase the volume of traffic to Egypt during the coming summer.”
Authorities in Egypt announced in March of 2015 that they were contemplating to require visas in advance as of Friday, May 15, 2015 for all foreigners traveling to Egypt for tourism will require visas in advance; but fortunately, the decision was reversed in April of 2015 until an electronic visa system was in place — and there is still no sign of that happening anytime soon at this time.
Summary
According to the aforementioned article, “Officials of the Tourism Companies Chamber stressed in a statement that the timing of the decision is inappropriate and would harm the tourism inflow to Egypt in light of the travel warnings in place in several foreign countries and the already high entry fees for archaeological sites in Egypt.”
I completely agree with that statement — as well as this one: “Other countries around the world cancel visas in order to attract tourists. Raising entry visa fees would decrease the inflow of tourists” — even though the value of a United States dollar can potentially go a long way in Egypt.
Egypt — a country which currently desperately needs tourist dollars — considered tightening restrictions last year on obtaining a visa prior to travel as opposed to upon arrival to the country; but has since abandoned those efforts with no word on renewing them. I still believe that considering an increase in the single-entry visa would have been a bad move for Egypt — especially given its fragile tourist economy over the past six years. That the cost of the single-entry visa fee will not increase for the foreseeable future is good news, in my opinion, as it will remain at $25.00.
I have long asserted that if a country wants to increase tourism, it needs to relax its reciprocity fees or visa requirements. Two examples of countries which did just that are Chile and Argentina — and effective as of Sunday, February 12, 2017, Belarus is the latest country to relax both visa fees and requirements in what seems to be an effort to increase tourism; and I am now scheduled to visit Belarus later this year.
Let visitors and tourists spend that money on local businesses within a country instead. After all, the government will still collect taxes through the businesses.
If you are interested in visiting Egypt, here is a series of articles pertaining to my experiences in that country — and I still have more articles which I need to write and post in the future:
- 6 Reasons Why You Should Visit Egypt Now
- Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt: A Photographic Essay
- Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt: Part One of A Photographic Essay
- Trapped in the Toilet of My Hotel Room in Egypt
- Arguably the Best Service I Ever Received From a Hotel
- As I am Lounging on a Hammock Along the Shore of the Nile River…
- I Became Guest of the Day at This Hotel Simply Because I Drove a Car
- 8 Tips on How to Drive in Cairo and Other Parts of Egypt
- I Drove on One of the 10 Roads You Would Never Want to Drive On and Did Not Even Realize It
- Renting a Car in Egypt: My Experience
- 9 Tips on How to Deal With Aggressive Touts When Visiting Egypt
- The Chaos Known as Cairo International Airport
- 11 Travel Photographs You Should Stop Taking Right Now?
- Should Attractions in the United States Charge Different Fees for Non-Residents?
- Russian Airplane Crash: Should You Travel to Egypt? Is it Safe?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
