08/13/2014
For the Egyptian travel industry, the visit of the President of Egypt, Mr. Fattah al-Sisi, to Russia and his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, did not come as a surprise. The Egyptian travel industry, which has revived since the election of Sisi, predicts that this August will be its best in several years. At the same time, the long-term forecast for Russian tourist flow to Egypt is also more than positive: against the background of the rising euro and various sanctions from the West, a cheap year-round vacation in Egypt may become a hit in the coming winter, especially given the new president’s establishment of order in the country.
The meeting of the presidents of Russia and Egypt was held on Wednesday in Sochi, and in a relatively unofficial mode — among other things, the top officials also visited tourist sites, in particular, the Laura complex and Rosa Khutor. “It is especially pleasant to note that you have come to our country on a visit. This is practically the first visit since your election as president outside the Arab world. This undoubtedly underlines the special character of our relations, which have developed long ago, we can say that a decade ago, ”Vladimir Putin said in his speech. In turn, the President of Egypt expressed his gratitude: “I am grateful that you were the first to congratulate me on my election as President of Egypt. The entire Egyptian people follow my visit to Russia and look forward to cooperation between our countries, ”said Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Perhaps the meeting place was chosen due to the upcoming plans of the heads of state to create a free trade logistics center on the Black Sea coast.
“For Egypt, this meeting did not come as a surprise. During this year, members of the governments of Egypt and Russia have met quite a lot and quite often, many agreements have been signed, «said Sergei Zalivin, deputy director of the Egyptian receiving tour operator ALS-tour, to the TURPROM newsgroup. In addition to the Egyptian agrarians, the Egyptian tourist business is also pinning great hopes on the expansion of relations between our countries: the situation is such that in the winter season the «supplies» of Russian tourists to Egypt are almost guaranteed to increase significantly.
“For the current season, everything is quite optimistic: the political situation in Egypt has stabilized and this immediately affected demand. In August, almost all hotels are filled, this will be the most successful summer season in the last few years, «- Sergey Zalivin cited a» brief summary «. According to the expert, the same is expected for September, when most of the European charter programs will start in Egypt. “As for October-November, even with a problematic political situation, they were always quite a successful season for Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh,” added Sergey Zalivin.
True, in the Russian market, the expert still expects a slight decline in tourist flow due to tourists frightened by the massive bankruptcies of tour operators. However, this situation practically did not touch the Egyptian direction. “In Egypt there were a number of tourists from the Labyrinth, but the hotels had paid deposits, so no one was evicted. Some tourists only had problems with return flights, ”commented Sergei Zalivin. He noted that business in Egypt did not incur any losses in connection with the Russian bankruptcies. “We hope that the situation on the Russian market will also stabilize by autumn. This will happen immediately after our mass media cease to panic, ”the source added.
In any case, the current political and economic situation around Russia turns out to be advantageous for Egypt, the expert is sure. “Against the backdrop of economic problems and sanctions, Egypt will only benefit. This winter, we can guarantee that a large number of tourists, who were previously «clients» of European destinations or exotic, will want to save money. And there are no alternatives to Egypt for this: the country remains dollar-based and quite economical, which in the current situation is only a plus, ”summed up Sergei Zalivin.
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