Egyptian tourist destinations will likely be negatively impacted by the Russian war in Ukraine, with tourism flow predicted to decline 35 percent according to the Vice Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Moataz Sedky.
The consequent Western sanctions imposed by European countries and the US on Russia will lead to further deterioration of the Russian currency. Sanctions also banned Russian transfers on the Swift system, thereby impacting financial transfers made by Russian tourists in Egypt.
Price hikes in the two countries due to the war will cause Russian and Ukrainian citizens to refrain from traveling abroad, he explained.
However he noted that as Egypt is a receiving market for tourism, it has the ability to adapt to events.
“If we go back a little, we will find that the Eastern European market, especially Russia, tourist flow was suspended for a period of six years to Egypt due to the accident of the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai on October 31, 2015,” said Sedky.
Egypt had succeeded back then in focusing on alternative and atypical markets, and the flow of tourism rose, approaching 13 million tourists, he explained.
The total number of tourism companies operating in the Russian and Ukrainian market does not exceed three or four companies, and only one or two chains of hotels, while the rest have other markets in which they operate – so the damage caused will only be to a limited number of Egyptian hotels, he added.
The decisions taken by the Hotel Establishments Chamber to host stranded tourists in Egypt because of war, whether they are from Ukraine or Russia, will positively impact Egypt’s reputation abroad, especially since the decision has been widely reported across western social media websites.
