CAIRO: The deadly blasts in Dahab are bound to cause short-term damage to Egypt s vital tourism industry, but it has bounced back from previous strikes. Health and security officials said 24 people were killed in the triple bombings on Monday night, in a fresh blow for the sector which is Egypt s top money-spinner. The attacks in Dahab came barely nine months after another Red Sea resort, Sharm El-Sheikh, was targeted by bombers at the cost of almost 70 lives, many of them foreigners. And in October 2004, a similar campaign of bombings in and around the Sinai tourist resort of Taba further up the coast killed 34 people. But in a sign of the resilience of the tourism sector, which has often cut prices to limit the damage, the Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba attacks have not had the lasting impact which many had feared. The number of tourists visiting Egypt rose six percent last year, compared to 2004, to reach a level of 8.6 million, according to government figures. Putting on a brave face after the latest carnage, Egyptian officials said Tuesday they had not received any requests for repatriations from embassies or travel agents. Information Minister Anas Al-Fekki said he was confident the industry would pull through again. I don t think it will affect tourism. We ve been through this many times and we will recover, he told AFP. Egypt receives millions of tourists every year and the security of all our visitors is our top priority, chimed in Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana. However, his ministry s spokeswoman, Hala Al-Khatib, acknowledged, These attacks will have a negative impact on tourism in Egypt, although it s too early to say how much. The bombings in Dahab, which is a magnet for Western backpackers and budget Israeli tourists as well as Egyptian holiday makers, did not spark any mass evacuation from the Sinai. The diving resort attracts between 80,000 and 100,000 tourists a year. While many shocked tourists decided to move out of Dahab on Monday night, the beaches and restaurants were back in business the next day, AFP journalists at the scene said. The situation is already back to normal. We will not leave and this won t stop us from coming back to Egypt. People just need a little time to get over the shock, said Russian tourist Peter Zaipsev. Despite the optimism, the ghastly attack has already affected the local economy. After the Dahab bombings, people cancelled their desert trips with us, Sheikh Mohammed Mzeina, the leader of the Bedouin tribe that owns all the land in the Dahab area, told an AFP reporter. Some merchants worried openly about the future. These attacks affect us a lot, our livelihood comes from tourism, said shop owner Jomaa Saleh Suleiman, explaining that the government stripped the area s Bedouin tribe of its work permits for months after the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings. TUI, Europe s leading travel and tourism group, said it was suspending all trips and excursions to the Sinai Peninsula in the wake of the bombings. But only four of its customers had decided to cut short their holidays. The worldwide operator Thomas Cook followed suit. Scandinavian vacation bookers Apollo Rejser continued to bring in more Danish tourists. Almost 160 of them left Copenhagen headed for Sharm El-Sheikh on Tuesday, while only 33 holiday makers backed out even without being refunded. We are following the advice of the Danish foreign ministry, which has not issued a travel warning for Egypt, said Apollo s head, Jan Lokhart. AFP
Tourism tipped to bounce back from attacks
