With protests in Egypt calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on the eve of their second week, the British Foreign Office continues to advise against "all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez". Most travel insurance policies refuse to pay out if the holder travels to an area against Foreign Office advice. However, British tour operators are keen to stress that holidaymakers in the popular Red Sea resorts face little disruption.
Winter is the high season for tourism in Egypt, when it attracts European and American travellers. The British Travel Association ( ABTA) says about one million British tourists visit Egypt every year, the vast majority choosing resorts in the Red Sea area. In 2010, a total of about 15 million foreign tourists travelled to Egypt.
Tourism Losses Could Hit 1.5 Billion Dollars
According to Associated Press news agency, Egyptian Central Bank Governor Farouk Okdah said on February 6, 2011 that the unrest had cost the tourism sector 1.5 billion dollars - 500 million dollars more than an earlier estimate by Egypt's new vice president, Omar Suleiman.
Egypt relies heavily on the tourist sector, which accounts for 11 per cent of GDP. Tourism brought more than 11 billion dollars into the economy in the last fiscal year. In the third quarter of 2010, Egypt was receiving about 280 million US dollars a week from tourism, Reuters news agency reported on 4 February 2011.
Tour Operator Urges "Prompt Reintroduction of Tourism"
The British company Explore Worldwide operates small-group adventure holidays around the world. Explore has been taking groups to the Middle East for three decades, and its tours to Egypt are frequently booked up long in advance.
Simon Grove, Head of Product at Explore, told Suite 101 in an interview: "We have taken the decision to cancel all tours visiting Egypt that depart up to the end of February 2011… Decisions regarding the operation of Explore tours in March, April and beyond will be made over the coming weeks as the situation develops."
From past experience, Explore believes that once Egypt returns to stability, its customers will be keen to return to the country quickly. "The prompt reintroduction of tourism is one of the best ways to support a country that has experienced difficulties and we hope to be able to reintroduce tours to the country as soon as it is safe to do so," Mr Grove added.
Britain's biggest holiday companies, Thomson and Thomas Cook, are continuing flights to the Red Sea resorts most popular with British visitors.
Thomas Cook said on February 6, 2011 that Red Sea Resorts including Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada were not affected by the demonstrations. These resorts are "a considerable distance from Cairo and are served by their own airports… They are fully operational and holidaymakers are continuing to enjoy these popular resorts. Flights to Sharm el Sheikh continue to operate as normal," said a statement on the Thomas Cook website. However, the company has cancelled its outbound flights to Luxor due to take place on Wednesday 9 February from Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester.
Thomson said on February 4, 2011 that "the situation in the tourist resorts of Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Taba and Marsa Alam is safe and is operating business as usual." Thomson, too, has cancelled flights to and from Luxor on the 9th and 16th of February 2011, as well as cancelling all outbound flights to Aswan up to and including April 25, 2011.
Cosmos has cancelled its holiday programme to Luxor on February 7 and February 14, 2011, but is operating departures to Sharm el Sheikh as scheduled.
Resort Staff on "Unpaid Leave"
The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, on its English-language website on February 6, 2011, painted a less rosy picture of conditions in the Red Sea resorts - at least for the 400,000 Egyptians in the hotel industry there who face unemployment.
The paper said resorts, hotels and tour companies in Red Sea governorates had granted 90 per cent of workers open-ended periods of leave without pay, "after tourism sharply declined amid ongoing nationwide unrest". Other tourist resorts had kept on security guards and gardening staff, but without paying bonuses. The number of workers in the Red Sea’s hotel sector is estimated at 400,000.
Over 250,000 tourists had cancelled their flights to the Red Sea in the last 10 days, the paper said, adding that according to local hotel companies, "occupancy rates are expected to approach zero by the middle of next week [9 February, 2011] as tourist flights from Europe and Russia stop completely and the rest of Egypt’s tourists leave."
But tourism analysts in the Persian Gulf say the political unrest in Egypt may have only a short-term impact on hotel bookings, Nile cruises and visits by cruise ships to Egyptian ports.
Ahmad al-Gibaly, Chairman and CEO of Online Media Egypt, a publishing and marketing firm with clients in the hospitality industry, told the Dubai newspaper Gulf News on February 6, 2011: "The tourism industry has the strongest stamina... We know how to get out of it, but it is 100 per cent dependent on security: if the government intelligently starts to establish law and order, then foreign media reports will show that."
Simon Calder, travel editor of the British newspaper The Independent, is also optimistic about prospects for a swift recovery once the current unrest subsides. "And when it all calms down, you can bet there will be some real bargain holidays," he predicted on February 7, 2011.
Peter Feuilherade - I took voluntary early retirement from the BBC in 2010, and I'm now a freelance writer. I had worked there as a reporter and news editor ...
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