Sharm security fears are ‘catastrophic’ for Egyptian tourism
Travel experts say security fears about air travel in Sharm el Sheikh, which have led to a suspension of flights, are a ‘catastrophic development’ for Egypt.
Nadejda Popova, senior travel analyst for Euromonitor International, said although Egypt is quick at bouncing back from adversity, this latest situation will have a very serious impact on its tourism industry.
She said Sharm el Sheikh has, until now, been very resilient in terms of tourism.
"Tourists continued to go there as they dissociated this part of Egypt from the unrest elsewhere," she said.
"The decision of the UK is going to have a very serious impact on the local economy and of course on tourism as the only pockets of safety in the country in terms of tourism are now compromised."
She believes travellers will remain very hesitant to travel to this part of the Middle East and will continue to choose destinations like Dubai, Oman, and maybe even Morocco as opposed to more vulnerable destinations like Tunisia and Egypt.
The UK is the second biggest source market for Egypt with 1 million arrivals in terms on trips to the country in 2014 after Russia which recorded in 2014 nearly 3 million arrivals.
"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," she said.
"Although Egypt is one of the countries in the region which quickly bounces back from different crises looking at some of the historic years, 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."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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