Number of tourists visiting Egypt goes down 45.7%

The number of tourists visiting Egypt slumped 46 percent in the first quarter of this year when mass protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the government's statistics agency said on Sunday. The protests that began on Jan. 25 prompted embassies to issue travel warnings and many tour groups cancelled their trips, throwing an industry that is a major source of foreign currency into crisis. Foreign reserves fell to $28.0 billion in April, the lowest in four years. Egypt's economy contracted an estimated 7 percent drop in the January-March quarter. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected growth of 1.0 percent this year, down from 5.1 percent in 2010.