CAIRO, Feb 23 (Aswat Masriya) - The number of tourists visiting Egypt increased by 25 per cent year-on-year in December to reach 551,000, according to central bank data.

The number of nights spent by tourists increased by 41.4 per cent in December, to reach 3.4 million nights, leading to a 9 per cent increase in revenue in the final quarter of 2016.

Revenue in the final quarter (October to December) reached $825.8 million compared to $758.2 million in the third quarter of that year.

According to the latest figures by the planning ministry, the tourism sector shrank by 37.5 per cent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016/ 2017.

Egypt’s tourism industry, a vital source of foreign currency, has been hit hard since the plane crash in October 2015. The country had already been struggling to recover from economic problems and a shortage of foreign currency reserves since the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Following the crash of the Russian jetliner, Moscow suspended all flights to Egypt pending an investigation into the crash. The UK followed suit, halting all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.

The Egyptian government adopted an urgent plan to revive tourism, which aims to attract 10 million tourists into Egypt by the end of 2017.