Egypt hotels close down, 2.5 mln employees lose jobs

With almost a million tourists fleeing Egypt and a drastic drop in hotel occupancy rates in the wake of the protests that erupted two weeks ago, the tourism sector in the country is among the most threatened and its losses are multiplying as the protests continue.

The flourishing of Egypt’s tourism industry in 2010 stands in sharp contrast with the drop that took place when the protests started, said Adel Abdul Razek, board member of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, according to Arab Media House.

“Egypt received 14.7 million tourists last year, that is around 1,200 tourists per month,” he said. “The revenue of the tourism industry for that year exceeded 13 billion dollars.”

The situation is different in 2011, he added, as hotel occupancy dropped and several hotels closed down, particularly in vital areas like the Red Sea resorts of Sharm al-Sheikh and Hurghada and the historic city Luxor. This is in addition to the harm inflicted upon employees working in the sector.

“Due to the current crisis, 2.5 million employees lost their jobs and around 1.5 others who work in 37 tourism-related industries were critically harmed.”

For Abdul Razek, urgent meetings have to be held with ambassadors of the Arab and foreign countries that send the biggest percentage of tourists and try to find a way out of the crisis through encouraging tourists to go back to Egypt.

“The Egyptian Tourism Federation is currently doing its best to revive the tourism industry in Egypt,” he concluded.

Due to the current crisis, 2.5 million employees lost their jobs and around 1.5 others who work in 37 tourism-related industries were critically harmed

Egyptian Tourism Federation board member Adel Abdul Razek

Unprecedented losses

Adel Farid, head of the Religious Tourism Committee at the Ministry of Tourism, said Egypt is suffering unprecedented losses in the tourism sector.

“All tourism-related activities have ground to a halt and all trips to Egypt stopped which paralyzed the entire tourism business,” he said. “However, I am hopeful things will go back to normal after protests end.

Hisham Zaazou, first deputy Minister of Tourism said the industry suffered drastic losses during the past two weeks.

“Hotel occupancy dropped by 20-40% and employees lost their jobs,” he told AlArabiya.net. “We expect the losses to exceed a billion dollars.”

Zaazou added that in addition to financial losses, the image of Egypt as a safe tourist spot has been shattered and the majority of tourists would now choose to go to countries they see as more stable.

According to statistics, the tourism sector encompasses 400 travel agencies, 4,000 restaurants and tourist facilities, 2,500 hotels, and 17,000 bazaars.

(Translated from the Arabic by Sonia Farid)

All tourism-related activities have ground to a halt and all trips to Egypt stopped which paralyzed the entire tourism business

Head of Religious Tourism Committee Adel Farid