CAIRO (youregypt.com) - Egyptian tourism minister, Mamdouh Al-Beltagui said, on last 10 April, he expects about 7 million tourists to visit Egypt in 2004.

Tourists visit Philae Temple at Aswan

In 2003, about 6 million tourists visited Egypt spending 53 million tourist nights in comparison to 5.5 million tourists in 2000.

Among tourists visiting Egypt, Italy comes first, followed by Germany, Russia and UK.
A total of 730’000 Italian tourists visited Egypt, ranking first, followed by 695’000 from Germany.

Nile cruise come as the first tourist attraction for Germans, French and Britons, while Italians prefer Sharm El-Sheikh Red Sea resort to spend their vacation.

Egypt depends on tourism as the first source of national revenues. The industry was shaken last year by the US war on Iraq, but quickly healed afterwards.

The tourism ministry targets a figure of 7.5 million tourists by 2006.

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Egypt's achieves the highest ever record of tourist numbers in 2003

by Raymon Kondos

CAIRO (youregypt.com) - Egypt customs had seized one million Viagra bills as they were being smuggled into the country at the seaport of Port Said, Egyptian authorities said on 7 April.

The bills were found in 92 cartoons out of a total 300, part of a shipment coming from India.

Viagra was licensed in Egypt in 2002, 4 years after its first release to American markets in 1998. During that period, the drug was becoming a popular product in the black market of Egypt , making massive gains for its smugglers.

Its licensing in 2002 has tumbled the black market, but not ending it, because some still believe the imported bill has better effect .

While, the domestic equivalent of the bill can be sold for about 5 to 10 pounds (0.80$ - 1.6$), the price of a smuggled Viagra bill could be as high as 40 pounds (6.5$).