Tourism in Egypt ‘devastated’

The Egyptian tourism industry has been “devastated” due to a number of interconnected factors, the Guardian wrote yesterday, noting that a potential resumption of British flights to Luxor might be helpful.

“Political upheaval, air crashes and fears over security at ancient sites have devastated the country’s tourism industry,” the Guardian wrote, noting that this time of year should be the peak time for tourists.

However, Aamer Ibrahim, a worker in the tourism industry, told the Guardian: “This is about as busy as it gets.” While pointing at a spot about 200 metres from the entrance to the tomb of Ramses IV, Ibrahim said: “People used to have to queue – the line would stretch to there.”

According to the newspaper, the 2011 revolution, military coup in 2013 and a series of airline disasters, including the Russian Metrojet Flight 7K9268 disaster in Sharm El Sheikh in October 2015 “shattered an industry that made up 11.4 per cent of Egypt’s GDP in 2015”.

Official Egyptian statistics reported by the Guardian showed that numbers of tourists declined in July this year by 41.9 per cent compared to the same time in 2015. The newspaper also reported critics saying that, unless Egypt produces real reasons behind the plane crashes, “tourists will not return with confidence.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian pointed out that there is hope to refresh the tourism industry, noting that Germany had recently restarted direct flights to Sharm El Sheikh. It also noted that Russia could lift the ban on Egypt before the end of the year.

The Egyptian news website Almesryoon said that Egypt and Russia had started talks this year to resume bilateral flights. It noted that Russia introduced recommendations and suggestions about security measures related to flight safety, adding that Russia wanted to see these recommendations carried out before resuming flights.

The Guardian reported that the UK does not ban direct flights to Egypt, but only to Sharm El Sheikh, noting that there is no ban on visiting the resort city if its citizens flew first to Cairo.

“The good news for us, regarding the resumption of direct flights to Luxor, is that it sends a good, calming message to potential travellers that the situation is stable and improving,” John Telfer of Explore Worldwide told the Guardian.

He noted that his company had seen a 75 per cent reduction in bookings to Egypt since 2011, with this year’s figures featuring a 20 per cent drop on the already low booking figures of 2015.

Telfer added: “The question [everyone is asking] is, is Egypt stable? This is why the Luxor flight is good news for the industry as a whole.”