How tourists find Egypt online — notes from my MSA University talk

On 28 November 2024 I was a guest speaker at MSA University's event Job Opportunities in Hospitality Industry, at the Faculty of Management Sciences. My session was called "E-Hospitality and Tourism: New Opportunities in the Job Market", as part of a panel of industry experts (MSA event report, archived copy).

I spoke about four things: how tourists search for a trip to Egypt, how they find tour companies online, what the numbers say about tourism in Egypt, and the role marketing plays in bringing visitors. The numbers below are updated to the latest available, so they are newer than the ones I showed on the day.

1. How a tourist searches for a trip to Egypt

Very few people book Egypt in one step. A trip usually moves through three stages:

Inspiration. A video, a photo or a friend's story puts Egypt on the list.
Research. The traveller searches Google, reads reviews, watches YouTube, asks on forums like Reddit — and now asks AI assistants like ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews.
Booking. More and more of this happens online. Phocuswright forecasts that online bookings will reach 65% of all travel bookings worldwide by 2026, up from 61% in 2023 (Phocuswright via TravTalk).

The research stage is where most of the decision is made. In my own study of 7,771 tourist reviews and posts about Egypt, travellers' most repeated advice to each other was practical: hire a licensed private guide, choose a small company that others recommend, and read recent reviews (the full study).

2. How tourists find tour companies online

When a traveller is ready to look for a company, they usually meet it in one of these places:

Google Search and Google Maps — the company's website and its business profile with reviews.
Review platforms such as Tripadvisor and Trustpilot.
Travel marketplaces that list day tours and packages from many operators.
Social media — Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
AI answers — a question to ChatGPT or Google AI that names a few companies as sources (what GEO is).

The company that wins is usually not the one with the biggest advertising budget. It is the one whose website answers the traveller's questions clearly, and whose reviews show that it keeps its promises.

3. Tourism in Egypt, in numbers

Bar chart of international tourist arrivals to Egypt: over 13 million in 2019, 3.7 million in 2020, 8 million in 2021, 11.7 million in 2022, 14.9 million in 2023, 15.7 million in 2024 and 18.8 million in 2025 — Chart by the author, from the sources listed under it.

Egypt received over 13 million tourists in 2019, fell to 3.7 million in 2020, and recovered to 14.9 million in 2023 (Egyptian Streets).
2024 was a record at 15.7 million tourists (same source).
2025 set a new record: about 19 million according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, 21% more than 2024 (Business Today Egypt); the Prime Minister gave the figure as 18.8 million (Amwal Al Ghad).
Tourism revenue reached $15.3 billion in 2024, compared with $7.2 billion in 2014, according to a Cabinet report (Business Today Egypt).

4. The role of marketing

Marketing works at two levels.

The country level. The state markets Egypt as a destination, and more and more of that work is digital. In July 2025 the Ministry of Tourism launched a digital campaign aimed at Arab travellers with the travel platform Wego (Amwal Al Ghad). Its Ramadan 2026 campaign relied heavily on Meta, Google and TikTok, and worked with bloggers, influencers and content creators (Ahram Online).

The company level. Once a traveller has chosen Egypt, the country's campaign has done its job — now each company has to be found and trusted. That means a website that ranks on Google and gets cited by AI, honest reviews, and a team that answers fast.

What this means for jobs

That was the real point of the session for the students in the room: every stage above is a job. Digital tourism needs people who can do:

SEO and GEO — getting a company found on Google, Bing and in AI answers.
Content — writing trip pages, guides and itineraries that answer real questions, in more than one language.
Paid advertising — Google Ads and Meta campaigns for specific markets.
Social media and video.
Online reputation — answering reviews and complaints.
Data and analytics — knowing which page and which channel brings real bookings.

Tourism in Egypt is growing, and more of it is decided online every year. The jobs are moving to where the decisions are made.

Sources

MSA University — Job Opportunities in Hospitality Industry (event report), archived copy.
TravTalk — Online travel bookings expected to dominate with 65% global reservations by 2026: Phocuswright, 25 September 2024.
Egyptian Streets — Egypt Sees Record 15.7 Million Tourists in 2024, Aims for 18 Million in 2025, 3 January 2025.
Business Today Egypt — Egypt sets new tourism record with 19M visitors in 2025, January 2026.
Amwal Al Ghad — Egypt welcomed 18.8 million tourists in 2025: PM, January 2026.
Business Today Egypt — Egypt's tourism revenues reach $15.3 billion in 2024.
Amwal Al Ghad — Egypt launches digital tourism campaign in partnership with WEGO, 16 July 2025.
Ahram Online — 'Ramadan in Egypt is a Story': Egypt launches campaign to boost tourism during Ramadan.