With recent headlines around the world concerning Egypt focused on demonstrations against Muhammad-defaming videos and the pro-democracy Arab Spring, one cannot be blamed for forgetting the fact that Egypt is one of the world’s main tourist destinations.

Some 10 percent of Egypt’s economy and more than 20 percent of its hard currency flows depend on tourism.

The Egyptian Embassy in Korea, with the Egyptian Tourist Authority by its side, assured the Korean tour agencies and travel reporters on Tuesday that normalcy and, most of all, safety has returned to Cairo two years since the pro-democracy Arab Spring swept up Arab capitals in North Africa in a wave of violent demonstrations.

“The situation has considerably stabilized in Egypt,” Egyptian Ambassador to Korea Mohammed El Zorkany said during a reception for the media and representatives of the tourism and hospitality industry here on Wednesday at a hotel in downtown Seoul. “It’s been almost two years since the revolution in Egypt on Jan. 25.”

Egypt took in almost 20 million visitors yearly before the revolution. That number fell to 12 million visitors in 2011, but has since recovered somewhat to about 15 million.

Some 76,000 tourists from Korea visited Egypt every year before the Arab Spring.

“The years from 2007 to 2010, before the revolution of Jan. 25, 2011, were the ‘golden years’ of Egyptian tourism,” El Zorkany said.

The flow of visitors from Korea dropped from its peak in 2010 of 75,000 to a low of 30,000 in the early part of 2011. It has increased to 55,000 this year as of the beginning of November, still slightly off the previous level.

Korea’s contribution to the total number of visitors to Egypt was significant because “given a Korean population of about (50) million, 76,000 visitors a year is quite significant,” El Zorkany said.

The number of Korean travelers is four times larger than the roughly 500,000 from China as a proportion of each country’s population.

Egypt has persuaded Korean Airlines to launch direct flights twice a week to Cairo starting Jan. 7, 2013, as part of its strategy to promote travel back to the “Land of the Nile.”

That is why it is so important for Egypt to attract Korean travelers back to Egypt. Koreans have been exceedingly cautious in visiting Egypt in the aftermath of the revolution, El Zorkany said.

“Caution to this degree in my mind is not justified,” he said.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)