Egyptian hotels are gradually coping with the effects of the “collapse” in the two main markets that have supplied them with the most tourists in recent years – Ukrainian and Russian. This was stated by Rami Fayez, a member of the Association of Tourist Investors in Marsa Alam. According to him, the replacement was primarily German tourists, who took the undisputed first place, as well as tourists from other European countries.
“Hotels in Marsa Alam managed to overcome the negative impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions. Let me remind you that the occupancy rate of hotels in late February – early March fell to only 10%. The tourist flow coming from Russia and Ukraine to Marsa Alam, is about 30% of the total traffic received by the resort each year, “said the expert. That is, the movement of other tourists also stopped.
But European tourism in Marsa Alam has recovered fairly quickly and has only improved over the past two months, the expert added. “Many tourist markets send large numbers of tourists, which largely compensated for the lack of Russian tourists. German, Polish, Czech, Dutch, and Italian tourists make up the bulk of the tourist flow in recent months. Occupancy of hotels in Marsa Alam is now about 50%, which is a good percentage compared to previous months, “said Mr. Fayez.
He added that the number of flights that will be accepted by Marsa Alam airport this week is about to 86. Most tourists are Germans – Germany is generally in the lead among European countries in the number of tourists sent to Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea in recent months. Poles, Dutch, and Czechs will also come to the resort.
Hope for the return of the Russians, the expert added, is still there. He reminded that Russia is launching charter flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh – Russian charters are due to leave for the country for the first time since February in late May. “For the first time since the beginning of the war, one of the Russian companies will start operating 8 flights a month to both Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada starting next Saturday – and these will be inexpensive charter flights of two flights a week, one for Hurghada and rather for Sharm el-Sheikh, “said the Egyptian expert. He added that representatives of the Egyptian tourism market hope for a good load of these flights – because it will mean the resumption of programs from Russia to Egypt.