Sharm El-Sheikh hotels lose 80% of guests

Hotels and resorts in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh have seen sharp falls in tourist numbers following the alleged bomb attack on a Russian passenger plane just minutes after it departed Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport last Friday.

Ammari Abdel Azim, the head of the Tourism and Airlines Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, said that the occupancy rate in Sharm El-Sheikh hotels fell by 80 per cent in the last week, especially after the departure of Russian tourists.

A number of European countries, including Russia, Britain, France and Germany, cancelled all flights to Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport in the wake of the crash that killed all 224 people on board (mainly Russian nationals).

In remarks for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Ammari said that the decision made by a number of European countries to cancel their flights to Sharm El-Sheikh will negatively impact tourism not only in the Red Sea resort, but in all of Egypt.

He explained that the departure of Russian tourists may increase the negative effects on the country’s tourism industry, especially as Russians represent about 45 per cent of the total number of tourists in Egypt. Sharm El-Sheikh is considered the most important tourist destination in the country, especially for European visitors.

Atef Abdel Latif, a member of the Egyptian Association of Investors of Marsa Alam and South Sinai, has called on the government to prove its strength in standing by the tourism sector, pointing to the need to postpone insurance and electricity bills and reduce the interest on loans to companies operating within the sector.

“Unless the government gives support to the tourism sector in the current circumstances, it will collapse,” he warned.

In a press statement on Sunday evening, Abdul Latif stressed “the need to work on reviving foreign tourism, developing Egyptian domestic tourism, opening new markets for visits to Egypt from countries other than Europe, reviewing security measures at Egyptian airports, and inviting all those responsible for civil aviation in Europe and worldwide to form a committee to review the security system in Egyptian airports in order to reassure the world.”

Abdul Latif added that he believes this crisis will reduce the number of employees in the tourism sector and will severely affect hotels, which may be forced to close temporarily.

He believes that the occupancy rates in hotels will decline by 90 per cent after the departure of 79,000 Russians and 20,000 Brits, as well as Belgian and German tourists.

This is the second time Egypt faces a drop on Western tourism in less than two years. A number of countries, including Russia, Britain and Germany, suspended flights to Egypt in 2013 as a result of the security situation in the country.

According to government data, tourism revenues make up around 11.3 per cent of Egypt’s GDP, while 14.4 per cent of the state’s income comes from foreign currencies.