Egyptian Tourism Set for Recovery in 2016

Members of the Egyptian tourism sector are confident that there will be a strong recovery from the harsh conditions the country has experienced during the past five years to achieve better revenues and tourist turnout in 2016.

Head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation Elhamy El-Zayat said the sector has lost over €14bn during the past five years since the revolution of January 2011. The total income of tourism to Egypt that year amounted to just over €11bn, with about 14.7 million tourists visiting the country.

El-Zayat believes that last year was the worst of the past five years, due to the negative impacts of several tragedies that began with the assassination of Attorney General Hisham Barakat mid-year and followed by the deaths of the ten Mexican tourists in September in the Western Dessert, and the Russian plane crash in October. "Revenues this year will not exceed €5.5bn, compared to €7bn last year, but we hope the sector will recover in 2016", he said.

Deputy Chairman of Tourism Investors Association in Marsa Allam Tarek Shalaby said investors still have hope for the sector to recover in 2016 since the government has contracted a security review company for airports.

Resort areas in the Red Sea and South Sinai experienced the least pronounced decline in tourism resulting from Egypt's political instability. However, following the Russian aeroplane crash, Britain halted all flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and Russia stopped tourist trips to Egypt.

Occupancy in Sharm El-Sheikh hotels was at 70% before the Russian plane crash and was expected to increase to 85% but rather fell to below 20% in December, according to Hesham Ali, head of the Tourism Investment Association in South Sinai.

South Sinai accounts for about 35% of hotel capacity in Egypt with a total 225,000 hotel rooms operating in accordance with the Egyptian Chamber of Hotels. According to an official, the crisis needs to be studied to enable the sector to respond to crises.

The ministry has been coordinating with other ministerial bodies as well as private airlines and the local tourism sectors in light of modern changes in the global tourism market, in terms of marketing and travel. Ali said that hotels in South Sinai lost almost €1bn per month since the crisis in October.

El-Zayat believes that Russian and British flights will not return to Sharm El-Sheikh before the end of January, considering the political situation. "It is no longer a problem with tourism", he said, "It has become a political decision awaiting the political will of countries".

Russian inbound tourism to Egypt usually accounts for about 35% of the total tourism flow, while British tourists account for 11%, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.