1. 2011
Comparative Analysis of Egyptian
and Turkish Tourism Industry
Paritosh
Kashyap

2. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
The given report is a comparative analysis between the two biggest tourist destinations
from the Mediterranean region, Egypt and Turkey across qualitative as well as
quantitative frameworks. Both Turkey and Egypt are world famous tourist destinations
and share similarities across religious, cultural social and economical parameters.
Profiles as tourist destination
Egypt: Egypt also known as the cradle of civilization has got a strong and vibrant
tourism industry which employs 12% of the work force and receives around 125 Million
tourists every year (Dinar Standard, 2011). It has a wide range of tourist avenues such as
pyramids, phoenix and other magnificent monuments; exotic desserts, wild life parks
and sea beaches; shopping complexes and other life style centers and state of the art golf
courses. It provides a wide range of interesting activities such as sightseeing, dessert
safaris, golf tourism, cultural tourism, sea activities, cruising, adventure sports etc.
(Egypt. travel, 2011)
Turkey: Like Egypt, Turkey also has a very rich history and cultural heritage and is
considered as the melting point of various civilizations such as European, Arabic and
Central Asian. It is also blessed with range of tourist avenues such as; beautiful cities
like Istanbul, Antalya, Ankara etc; rugged landscapes, serene and calm sea beaches and
coastlines, exotic floras and faunas, heritage sites, museums, monuments and
archeological places etc. The range of activities at Turkey includes site seeing, adventure
sports, winter sports, golf, rafting, eco tourism, yachting, night life, cultural tourism,
shopping, Turkish bath, cuisines, conventions and wild life adventures etc.
(tourismturkey. org, 2011)
Demographic and Economic Indicators for 2010 (Euromonitor,
2011)
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3. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
:
Parameters Egypt Turkey
Population 80 Million 73.7 Million
Real GDP Growth 5.3% 7.8%
Inflation 11.2% 8.6%
GDP (PPP) US $ 498 Billion US $ 1015 Billion
Annual Gross Income US $ 191 Billion US $ 644 Billion
Annual Disposable Income US $ 185 Billion US $ 544 Billion
GNI per Capita US $ 2070 US $ 8730
GDP Growth rate of Egypt and Turkey
The following figure compares the GDP growth rate of both, Egypt and Turkey
10
7.8
8 7.1 7.2
6 5.3
4.8 4.6 4.8
3.5
GDP Growth Rate
4
Egypt
2 0.9
Turkey
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011(Est)
-2
-4
-4.7
-6
Year
Social Indicators of Egypt and Turkey (Source: UNICEF)
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4. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
Indicator Egypt Turkey
Adult Literacy Rate 66 % 89 %
Primary School Enrollment 94 % 95 %
Secondary School Enrollment 73 % 82 %
Phone Penetration 51 % 89 %
Internet Penetration 17 % 34 %
Population Growth Rate 2.1 % 1.5 %
Median Age 24.3 28.5
100% 94% 95%
89% 89%
90%
82%
80% 73%
70% 66%
60%
51% Egypt
50% Turkey
40% 34%
30%
17%
20%
10%
0%
Adult Literacy Primary School Secondary Phone Internet
Rate Enrollment School Penetration Penetration
Enrollment
Tourism industry in Egypt and Turkey
Egypt
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5. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
Since ancient time Egypt has been a very popular tourist destination, attracting large
number of tourists from Europe, Middle East and Africa. The new era of tourism in
Egypt began in 1989-90, when many of the leading hotels were privatized, airline sector
was liberalized and the Egyptian govt. came up with some strong marketing campaigns.
Since then the industry has been moving with an accelerating pace, occasionally hit hard
by terrorism and political unrest. Last year out of the 125 Million tourists it had received,
Russia with 14 % had the highest share, followed by United Kingdom, Germany and
Italy. Though presently due to the political unrest the tourism industry has been
affected, but in the long run it is expected to have positive impact, owing to expected
political stability and transparency as well as more inflow of tourists from emerging
economies like China and India.
The following histogram shows the growth of tourism industry since 1989-90, for Egypt
The following figure shows growth of annual revenue from tourism, over the last 20
years
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6. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
The following pie chart shows the percentage of 10 major countries, exporting tourist to
Egypt, in the year 2007 (values given in 000s)
Source of data: (Information development support center)
Egypt is primarily known for cultural tourism. Blessed with large number of Pharaonic,
Roman, Coptic and Islamic monuments and archaeological sites, it’s touted as a paradise
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7. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
for culture tourists coming from various parts of the globe. The government of Egypt
along with the support of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international
organizations has made huge investments developing the tourism sector, a sector that
constitutes 40 percent of Egypt’s non commodity export and employees more than 2
Million people directly or indirectly. Though position enjoyed by cultural tourism is
unparallel, various other forms of tourism such as, spa, sports, dessert safari, sea,
adventure, eco , and convention tourism (business tourism) etc have been concomitantly
developed.
Turkey
Thanks to its rich History, wide range of exotic landscapes, beautiful beaches and
strategic position, tourism industry in Turkey had made noticeable growth in past few
years, better than many of its European counterparts. Turkey’s tourism sector took a
leap during the early 80s. In 1980, Turkey had mere 60, 000 beds and the tourism
industry constituted just 0.8% of the GDP. (Mahmut Zortuk, 2009). In 2009 with revenue
of around US $ 21 Billion it constituted 3.4% of the GDP and 20.8% of the export.
According World Tourism Organization, Turkey is ranked 7 th among the best tourists
destinations in the world and holds 9th position in terms of annual revenue from
tourism. (Sunday’s Zaman, 2011) Istanbul; the capital of two of the greatest civilizations
in the world, Byzantine and Ottoman civilizations; along with Antalya are the two
important focal point of Turkish tourism, comprising of 60% of the tourist intake.
Istanbul was the 3rd most visited city in Europe as on 2008, and was the cultural capital
of Europe in 2010. (Invest in Turkey, 2009)
The following columns shows the growth in inbound tourism in Turkey over the period
of time
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8. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
Source of the data: Middle East and North Africa report, Istanbul Bulletin, Sunday
Zaman, Country studies, Central daylight time
The following figure shows growth of annual revenue from tourism, over the period of
years,
Source of data: Middle East and North Africa report, Istanbul Bulletin, Sunday Zaman,
Country studies, Central daylight time
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9. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
In the near future tourism industry in Turkey is expected to grow further. Around 40%
of tourists come from, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany and Iran. Major tourist
attraction in turkey includes, archaeological sites, monuments, museums, beautiful
coastline with 314 beaches, rugged landscapes etc and major forms of tourism includes
cultural tourism, winter tourism, beach tourism etc. Other alternative forms of tourism
had been developed such as medical tourism, religious tourism and sports tourism.
Turkey has 14 golf courses, 20 skies and 40 marinas (as of 2008) and is emerging as
sports tourism destination. Similarly it is evolving as a medical tourism destination, with
a large number of medical tourists coming from Middle East region.
Comparison Egypt and Turkey on a “Nine Point” Analytical
frame work
The success of a tourist destination depends on a wide range of factors ranging from
places to visit, connectivity to political stability and infrastructure etc. In the given part
both the destinations will be judged on a set of nine parameters, with every parameter
having a specific weight age score, depending on the importance of the particular
parameter. In accordance to the competencies shown under individual parameters, both
the countries will be rated from 1 to 5, with 1 being lowest to 5 being highest. The
individual scores will be multiplied with the weight age score and their sum total over
all the nine parameters will be the final score for the individual states.
Parameters Weight age
Places to visit 9
Infrastructure 8
Safety 7
Cost 6
Strategic Location 5
Marketing 4
Climate 3
Social factors 2
Legal factors 1
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10. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
• Places to visit: the success of any tourist destinations depends heavily on the
things it has to offer. In this regard both Egypt and Turkey has world class
tourist places adored by visitors. While Egypt has some most sought after
archaeological sites and monuments, along with beautiful beaches, exotic
desserts, spas, golf courses, convention centers Nile cruises etc; Turkey is also
endowed with archaeological sites, museums, monuments along with beaches,
springs, flora and fauna, sports and medical utilities, convention centers, exciting
night life etc. Hence both have been rated as 5.
• Infrastructure: Includes, hotels, resorts, roads, public transportation,
telecommunication, ICT (information and communication technologies),
convention centers etc and plays a significant role in the tourism industry by
ensuring comfortable and hassle free stay for the tourists. Turkey has around
one Million beds, 46 airports, and extensive road networks, it is ranked 55 in the
T&T business environment and infrastructure sub index, consisting of ,air
transport, ground transport, tourism, ICT, infra structure, tourism infra
structure. In the same index Egypt has a rank of 74. Based on their rankings, a
score of 3 and 2 had been given to Turkey and Egypt respectively.
• Safety: Is a major concern for the tourists as it has a huge psychological impact
on the mindset of visiting tourist. A perceived feeling of lack of safety may result
in avoidance of destinations. Both Egypt and Turkey have their own safety
concerns, with situations more serious in Egypt due to the current political
instability. There has been many attacks on tourists in both Turkey as well as
Egypt, resulting in high causalities, there by hitting the tourism business hard.
Along with fundamentalism, Turkey also struggles hard with Kurdish uprising
in the South, which had occasionally targeted tourists. Based on these safety
concerns a low score of 2 had been decided for Turkey. It has been further
revised to 1 in case of Egypt, in view of the political, which resulted in one
Million tourists leaving the place.
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11. Comparative Analysis of Egyptian and Turkish Tourism Industry
• Cost: Both Egypt and Turkey are comparatively cost effective in comparison to
many of its counterparts in Europe. Egypt is one of the low cost tourist
destinations where the cost of travelling is 20 % of the United Kingdom. Cairo its
largest city has a rank of 224, in terms of cost of living among 276 places in the
world. According to an estimation by budgetyourtrip.com; average daily travel
in Egypt, which includes accommodation, food, water, local transportation etc
could cost around US $ 33.5; souvenirs could cost around US $ 100 and daily
travel and cruise trips can cost around US $ 30. In case of Turkey values for the
same will be US $, 47, 8 and 55 respectively. Cost of daily travelling can cost US
$, 200, 164, 77 and 51 in United Kingdom, USA, Mexico and Thailand
respectively. Hence for cost, on a scale of 5 a score of 5 has been given to Egypt
where as 4 has been given to Turkey.
• Strategic Location: Turkey is strategically placed between the cross roads of
Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. Similarly Egypt, situated in North Africa
is at a distance of mere four hours from Europe and is at the door steps of Middle
East. For both of them, their strategic locations have played pivotal role in their
tourism industry. In the given parameter a score of 5 had been awarded to both.
• Marketing: Due to the fact that tourism plays a very pivotal role in their
individual economies, both Egypt and Turkey intend to take strong initiatives in
marketing their destinations. Ministry of tourism and culture in Turkey has an
ambitious plan of achieving 50 Million tourists and US $ 40 Billion as revenue by
2023, as a result of which it has offices all across the world undertaking strong
marketing initiatives.
In spite of this, marketing expenditures are believed to be low in comparison to
some of the heavily marketed destinations like Spain, UAE etc. The same holds
true for Egypt, though it has its own tourism ministry with a fix budget allocated
for marketing, a lot more could be done. In case of both Turkey as well as Egypt
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