Hotels and resorts in Hurghada, Gouna and Sahl Hasheesh in the Red Sea have witnessed a significant rise in occupancy rates, ranging between 90 and 100 percent. Hotel owners have been forced to turn away any new bookings until the end of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The high occupancy rate this year is due to many Egyptians coming from abroad to spend their holidays in the hotels and beaches of the Red Sea. There have also been dozens of flights organized by clubs and churches. The occupancy rate has risen by 10 to 15 percent compared to last year.
Accommodation prices range between LE600 and LE800 per night for a two-person room at four-star hotels, from LE900 to LE1200 in five-star hotels and up to about LE1,500 for hotels that include an aqua park.
Committees from the Tourism Ministry have been inspecting the services provided by hotels and how they relate to prices. Major General Ahmed Abdallah, Governor of the Red Sea, said the hotel capacity available in Hurghada would not be sufficient to accommodate tourists in coming years as their numbers have been surging, particularly with people from Europe, Russia and other Arab countries.
There is a plan for expanding the number of hotel rooms in the governorate, from 270,000 to 400,000 rooms, to meet the increase in number of tourists in the coming years. Hurghada Airport has become busier as the airport now receives between 7,000 and 10,000 tourists daily from Europe and Russia, with Germans and Russians in the forefront, according to Abdallah.
A number of officials working with tour companies in European markets have reported an upsurge in demand for reservations in the Red Sea after Tunisia's tourism was affected by terrorist attacks.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
