Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said Tuesday that his ministry expected that, by November, tourist arrivals to Egypt would reach 70 percent of the numbers registered before the latest outbreak of political unrest almost three months ago.

"At least 12 countries have lifted or eased warnings against traveling to Egypt," the minister told reporters. "And we expect other countries to follow suit within weeks."

"Tourist numbers fell by 80 percent after several Western countries issued warnings against travelling to Egypt following the dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda protest camps," Zaazou said.

The minister was referring to the bloody August 14 crackdown by Egyptian security forces on two sits-in staged by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in which hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators were killed and thousands injured.

Average daily tourist spending rates had also slumped, the minister noted, from $85 per day in 2010 to $63 this year.

Egypt has seen mounting political and security tension since the July 3 ouster of Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, by Egypt's powerful military establishment.

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