Africa’s tourism sector has witnessed a boom in recent years, with recent data revealing that nine leading destinations collectively welcomed over 50 million international visitors. Yet one country led the continent’s tourism growth. 

Egypt led the way with an impressive 14.91 million visitors, followed closely by Morocco with 14.52 million, according to ATTA. South Africa remains sub-Saharan Africa’s most visited destination, attracting over 8.5 million tourists. Given Egypt’s impressive appeal to tourists, it is unsurprising that it is home to Africa’s busiest airport. 

Cairo International Airport (CAI) saw an incredible 26.2 million passengers, including arrival, departure and transit passengers, in 2023, far above the second-place airport. This figure saw an impressive increase of 31% from the previous year and was over 8.6 million higher than O.R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa, which registered 17.5 million. 

CAI serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air, as well as several other airlines. It is located in Heliopolis, northeast of Cairo and has an area of 14 square miles. 

It is also one of the busiest airports in the Middle East in terms of total passengers, behind Dubai, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi international airports. 

The airport consists of four terminals. Terminal 1 is the oldest currently in operation, having been inaugurated in 1963 by President Nasser. It has witnessed several expansion projects over the years, including renovating the ground floor in the early 2000s. Hall 4 is dedicated to private jet and executive jet services. 

Due to projected growth and limited ability to expand Terminal 2, construction of Terminal 3 began in 2004 and opened for commercial operations in 2009. The facility is twice as large as the current two terminal buildings combined.

The Seasonal Flights Terminal opened in 2011, designed to handle 1,200 passengers per hour. Its purpose is to ease operational strains on existing terminals during pilgrim seasons to sites of religious significance, particularly Mount Sinai and the Monastery of Saint Catherine. 

An impressive number of airlines operate flights to and from CAI, including British Airways with a Heathrow service, Air France with a Charles de Gaulle (Paris) service and even Asiana Airlines with a regular route to Seoul.

These impressive stats may continue to boom in the coming years, as tourism industry insiders are predicting other countries, like Egypt, could try to steal holidaymakers from Mediterranean destinations like Turkey. 

“Tourists looking for a low-budget holiday may prefer Egypt and Tunisia instead of Turkey,” leading advisor for the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, Hamit Kuk, told the Express. 

Keen to tick the sites of the Pyramids of Giza off their bucket lists, an estimated 504,460 British tourists visited Egypt in 2022.