CAIRO, Mar 25 (Aswat Masriya) - The number of tourists arriving in Egypt in January stood at 677.5, marking a 5.5 percent increase from those who landed in the country during the same time last year, the state's Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said.

The biggest number of tourists arrived from Eastern Europe, CAPMAS said in a statement released on Wednesday, making up 39.5 percent of the total number of tourists who visited the country in January. 

It was closely followed by Western Europe, where 32.9 percent of January's inbound tourism came from. Tourists arriving from the Middle East represented 16 percent of the sum of tourists who came in January.

The number of Arab tourists visiting the country increased to 26.4 percent in 2015, as opposed to 19 percent during the same month last year, CAPMAS said.

Tourism was a main source of income in Egypt until a popular uprising which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011 triggered four years of political turmoil, taking its toll on the sector.

Tourism revenues jumped to almost $4 billion from $1.9 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year 2014/2015, the central bank announced last week.

Tourism Minister Khaled Rami had said in the Egypt Economic Development Conference, held from March 13 - 15, that the state is aiming to increase the number of tourists in 2020 to 20 million tourists, consequently increasing tourism revenues to reach $20 billion.