Egypt official slams hotel sector's 50% rate slash

An Egyptian tourism official has slammed the Egyptian hotel sector for slashing rates by “more than 50%” in a bid to revive the tourism sector following the revolution in January.

The tourism sector has virtually ground to a standstill in Egypt with hotel occupancy plunging from around 85% prior to the revolution, to around 25 – 35% as tourists continue to steer clear following the protests.

Samy Mahmoud, undersecretary head of the international tourism Egyptian Tourism Authority said: “As the Ministry of tourism policy we are not happy about the prices right now in Egypt, because people in Egypt have dropped the prices right now by 50%.

“We ask them to give some incentive instead and not drop the prices,” said Mahmoud. “For example if you want to come on a package holiday, and you will stay two nights I will give one night free, we accept this. The problem is most travel agency and hotels have dropped the rates by more than 50% and this is not a good attitude.

“This is the private sector – we explain for them this is a very big mistake – if after five or six months you drop the prices like this you cannot take back the price again.”

Mahmoud said the tourism authority had launched incentives for travel agents and tour operators in Egypt to help revive the tourism sector, including helping out with the cost of advertising and charter flights.

“We have started something called co-publicity with them. Any travel agency or tour operators who want to make any ad about Egypt we support them by 50% for the cost of this ad. Second we give incentives for charter flights for any destination – to Sharm el Sheik, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Luxor. We also organize many fam trips for the media and for travel agents and tour operators to come to Egypt and see for themselves what is the situation in Egypt.”

Mahmoud predicted that it would take "at least four months" for the industry to recover.