(AFP Photo )
The Nuweiba-Taba Investors Association has requested to postpone insurance premiums payments for companies and hotels in the area to the end of 2015, according to the association chairman, Samy Soliman.
He said that occupancies in the area do not exceed 10%, and hotels are suffering from losses.
Hotels in the area demobilised a large number of employees in the light of the tourist decline last year, but Soliman refused to give the specific number of affected staff.
About 3.8 million employees in Egypt work in the tourism sector, according to statistics issued by the Ministry of Tourism, with 1.8 million of them being direct employees and the rest indirect.
Tourism income declined to $5.9m during the last year, and Egypt has lost 41% compared to last year.
Egypt hopes to make $7m by the end of this year, according to a press statement from the Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaazou.
The Ministry of Tourism and the National Organization for Social Insurance signed an agreement to put off insurance loans for the companies in the tourism sector until the end of 2015.
Nuweiba and Taba are the tourist areas most affected by the regression in the tourism sector, compared to other areas since the 25 January Revolution.
According to the Chamber of Tourism, the area’s hotel rooms exceed 15,000 rooms.
An explosion on a tourist bus in February killed three South Korean tourists, negatively impacting the recovery and leading to a decline in hotel occupancies to less than 20%.
Soliman demanded that the Ministry of Interior increases security checkpoints compared to Sharm El-Sheikh.
He believes that the Egypt Tourism Authority promotes for and gives all efforts to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada rather than other touristic places, while ministers do not visit the places in Nuweiba-Taba.
Hotel occupancies in Marsa Alam are at 35% to 40%, according to Atef Abdel Latif, member of the Tourism Investors Association.
Abdel Latif also said that hotel occupancies in Luxor and Aswan will not exceed 50% during the Christmas season this year.
In a statement Tuesday, Abdel Latif expressed his expectations that occupancies will increase by 40% to 60%, according to the number of reservations in tourism companies and travel agencies around the world.
He added: “Hotel occupancies will differ this year due to the decline in oil prices from $104/barrel to $68/barrel, which negatively impacted on the purchasing power of the Russian tourist, who is at the top of tourists visiting Egypt.”
Abdel Latif affirmed that the value of the Russian rouble declined by 40% in line with the decrease in oil prices, deeming 50% of Russian tourists unable to afford travel expenses with the increase in prices.
