07/19/2011
Russian tourist flow to the country of the Pyramids has not recovered to last year’s volumes, tour operators state. There were several reasons for this: a 50% reduction in carrying capacities on the route, an increase in the cost of air tickets by $ 100 compared to last year, as well as the notorious recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor to refuse to visit Cairo and Luxor, which are the main attractions of the country. On the other hand, most of the popular hotels in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh have completely sold out their rooms and even stopped by the end of July. However, the main reason for this is not foreign tourists at all, but the influx of Egyptians on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which falls this year in August.
Indeed, the size of the Russian tourist flow has not yet reached the volume of previous years, since there are 50% fewer planes flying on the direction than last year, which constrains the growth of the number of tourists. In addition, recommendations from the Russian authorities remain in force, which actually prohibit tour operators and travel agents from organizing tourist trips to the Egyptian capital and the Nile Valley. In addition to this, this summer, transportation has risen significantly: the cost of an air ticket has increased by at least $ 100, and since Egypt is a budget destination where tourists “count every dollar,” such a rise in price has a negative impact on demand. “Although sales are going on, they are much lower than last year’s figures. The main demand now falls on Hurghada, and earlier in the summer, tourists chose to rest in Hurghada. By the way, according to official statistics, in June and until mid-July, hotel occupancy did not exceed 60-70%, «said Olga Morozova, head of the Egyptian direction of Elta Travel.
The demand in Egypt was also called sluggish in the travel company Anex Tour. “The tourist flow in the direction has not yet recovered, compared to last year, the volume of transportation has decreased by about 50%. A typical tendency in 2010 was an increase in demand in summer by 10-15% compared to summer 2009, and in 2011 we observe the opposite situation — a return to the 2009 level. It is noteworthy that the depth of sales practically did not change — from a week to several days, «said Ekaterina Dyachenko, head of the Egypt direction of the travel company Anex Tour. According to the interlocutor, the increase in Russian tourist flow to the country of the Pyramids will follow the normalization of the political situation in Egypt after the autumn elections.
It is curious that according to the assurances of the receiving travel agencies, local hotels have now ceased to experience problems with loading, and even vice versa — problems with accommodation may begin among tourists and tour operators. “The bulk of Egyptian hotels are now on stop-sale until the end of July. This applies to both Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh hotels. The high occupancy of hotels is primarily due to the fact that a lot of Egyptians themselves came to rest before Ramadan. So, together with foreign tourists, many hotels now have 100% occupancy. It should be noted that since mid-July there has been a slight increase in the volume of air traffic from Russia, by about 20%, but this mainly affected Hurghada. Another expansion is scheduled for August. It should be noted that sales in Hurghada are now going better than in Sharm El Sheikh. However, in winter, the priorities for the choice of resorts will most likely change, «Sergei Zalivin, deputy director of the Egyptian travel company» ALS-tour «, told the TURPROM information group. At the same time, excursion programs are practically not in demand among tourists. “Many vacationers prefer to stay in a hotel. Probably, the media too strongly and not always objectively presented information about the situation in Cairo during the revolution. Although at the beginning of summer almost all tourists did not take a step outside the territory of their hotel, now the situation has begun to improve and many vacationers are already happy to walk in the resort areas, ”said Mr. Zalivin.
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