Current events in Ukraine will negatively affect Egyptian tourism destinations, and one of the most valuable tourist flows for Egyptians from Russia will stop, reducing the flow of tourists to Egypt by 35 percent – such a bleak future for Egypt, said the Deputy Chairman of the Tourism Committee. In the country of the pyramids of Moataz Sidki, Egyptian media quoted.
The official saw the reasons for the sharp reduction in Russian tourism:
- Changed diplomatic vocabulary, financial and other sanctions imposed by European countries and the United States on Russia have intensified amid the war in Ukraine, so the tourism of the pyramid country is morally preparing for the departure of Russian tourists from their resorts.
- In addition, the expert said that the measures taken by Western countries will lead to further depreciation of the Russian currency, which will make package tours the most expensive for most Russians.
- Sanctions make it difficult for Russian tourists to make Swift transfers abroad, particularly in Egypt.
- Rising prices due to the war in Ukraine will force Russian tourists to refrain from traveling abroad.
Perspectives
Despite the deplorable situation for Egypt, the local tourism authorities believe that they will be able to adapt to current events. Especially since they had the worst experience behind them – there were no Russian tourists in the country of the pyramids for almost six years. After a terrorist attack involving a plane with Russian tourists on board, Russia cut off direct flights to the country of the pyramids.
“If we go back a bit, we find that in the Eastern European market, especially in Russia, the flow of tourists to Egypt was suspended for six years due to the crash of a Russian plane that crashed in Sinai on October 31, 2015,” said Sedky.
Egypt then had a hard time because it lost an important supplier of tourists to its resorts. However, he soon managed to focus on alternative and atypical markets, and the tourist flow increased, approaching 13 million tourists. And this time it is obvious that travel companies are counting on the UK and Germany.
The total number of travel companies operating in the Russian and Ukrainian markets does not exceed three or four and only one or two hotel chains, while others serve other markets – so losses will be inflicted only on a limited number of Egyptian hotels, the expert added.
As for the Ukrainians, who were also expected this spring, the Egyptian authorities have no illusions about them either. There are no Egyptian statistics on the number of Ukrainian tourists in 2021 yet, but Ukraine’s State Tourism Agency said in a January 25 report that 1.46 million Ukrainians visited Egypt last year, making Egypt the second most popular tourist destination after Turkey.
In summary, the travel official praised the decision of the Chamber of Hotel Institutions to receive stranded tourists in Egypt due to the cancellation of flights, either from Ukraine or Russia, because, he said, it will positively affect Egypt’s reputation abroad.
The Red Sea coast has long been a popular tourist destination for Russians, but after a 2015 attack by the Sinai branch of the Islamic State banned in Russia, which shot down a Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Then 224 people died, and Russia suspended flights to Egypt. The ban was finally lifted last July, and in August Russia resumed direct commercial flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. Officials predicted that the number of Russian tourists would increase to 300,000-400,000 per month.
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