ACHIEVEMENT AND A GOOD BASE ON WHICH TO BUILD. FOLLOWING RECENT EVENTS, THE COUNTRY WILL NEED TO UTILISE THIS SKILL.
Back in May, during the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, Egypt’s hospitality market was portrayed as a strong competitor to Dubai and Abu Dhabi with Colliers International forecasting the country’s three key tourism hotspots – Cairo, Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh – to see the largest increase in RevPAR by year-end.
This was based on the popularity of Egypt among Russian tourists, the return of socio-political stability and increasing consumer confidence in the destination.
Filippo Sona, head of hotels, MENA region, Colliers International, had then commented, “Egypt is coming back in a big way following a tough period for the industry.
The country is on a major drive to attract investment and the hospitality industry – traditionally one of the key sectors of the economy – is no exception. The numbers are impressive and reflect a sharp upturn in sentiment as tourism spending reached EGP153 billion (USD19.5 billion) [in 2014], the highest level since 2008.”
Indeed, prior to recent unfortunate events which led UK and Russian authorities to suspend regular flights between the destinations and Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, Egypt was having a good year with the number of tourists from around the world between January and July increasing 7.3 percent year-on-year.
In addition, in 2014 inbound flow rose eight percent to reach 10.2 million arrivals, up from 9.5 million in 2013. According to Euromonitor International, in 2014 the UK was the second largest source market for Egypt with one million travellers to the country, right behind Russia which recorded nearly three million visitors.
“This of course makes the decision of the UK even more detrimental for the Egyptian tourism industry and those employed and working in the travel segment there.
Although Egypt is one of those countries in the region that bounce back quickly from different crises [...], I do believe that the recent events will slow down the ambitions of the local government to achieve the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2020,” commented Nadejda Popova, senior travel analyst, Euromonitor International.
She stressed that even though the destination has always been portrayed as a haven of safety and security in an instable region, perceptions are now changing and the Egyptian government needs to reverse this by taking adequate security measures.
“We must not forget that the country has the ability to bounce back quickly given that the Egyptian tourism offering is so unique and outstanding that it has the power to remain resilient. […] It is important to point out that Egypt signed a USD68 million dollar contract for advertising and improving its tourism image in September,” Popova supported.
