A member of the Tourism Committee in the Egyptian House of Representatives, Sahar Talaat Mostafa, submitted a parliamentary question to the Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, regarding the Egyptian government’s plan to support hotels across Egypt in light of the impact of the ongoing Gaza war.
Mostafa explained that she received numerous complaints and requests for help from the owners of hotels in Taba, Nuweiba, and Dahab, due to the cessation of tourist traffic there for the fourth month in a row as a result of the Gaza war, the spread of fighting to other regions and the inflammatory events at the Red Sea.
“As a result (of the war), some countries exporting tourism to Egypt in general and the South Sinai region in particular canceled reservations that had previously been made before the outbreak of war, while halting any future reservations until the situation stabilizes,” she added.
Mostafa added: “There is no doubt that the cessation of incoming tourist traffic leads to many negative effects, not only cessation of revenue from foreign currency, but it also causes the closure of those hotel establishments, resulting in a collapse in their infrastructure, and the need for huge financial costs to restore them to normal operation.”
The privately-owned Masrawy news website reported Mostafa as saying in her parliamentary question: “Among the serious negatives of this problem are the fate of workers, the cost of their salaries during this period, and the increase in the level of unemployment, while the owners of these hotels are currently facing another problem which is the accumulation of debts on them.”
Mostafa asked what the government’s plan is to help hotel owners in Taba, Nuweiba, and Dahab and confront the repercussions of the Israeli war, in order to preserve Egypt’s tourism sector, on which the state depends upon to face foreign currency challenges.
