Sources at the Egyptian Travel Agencies Association (ETAA) said that the association refused an offer from the Arab Orient Takaful Insurance to cover the risk of non-payment of airline tickets.
The source said that ETAA had earlier raised the coverage fees of non-payment of airline tickets from EGP 7 to EGP 15, on the back of the currency devaluation since the beginning of November 2016.
He added that the association still has valid contracts with the Egyptian Takaful Company and the Arab Misr Insurance Group (GIG).
The official said the risk of non-payment of airline tickets is very low but the International Air Transport Association (IATA) requires that, so the chamber is seeking to comply with the international travel and tours systems.
He expected the association to negotiate with more insurance companies by the end of this year to provide the needed coverage starting from 2018, to bring the number of insurance companies providing this coverage to four companies.
He pointed out that the number of tourism companies bringing in international tourists in the past two years has significantly declined amid the bad circumstances of the Egyptian tourism sector, following Britain and Russia halting their flights to Egyptian destinations.
He added that 90% of ETAA members work in organizing Hajj and Umrah trips, yet the temporary suspension of Umrah tours earlier caused the companies to suffer 50% losses in their profits in the current season.
The number of Egyptians participating in Umrah in the past season amounted to 1.2m, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
