CAIRO: Two weeks of mass protests nationwide had more or less brought Egypt’s economy to a standstill, but for the past two days many have been trying to push the economy back into normalcy.
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“We need to re-build our tourism because one in every eight people are employed in the tourism sector so by intriguing people again, we will help jumpstart the economy.”
-snip-
Ahmed El-Emam, CEO of TourEgypt.net, said the company is open for business but with minimum employees. After laying off around 10 members of the staff, both Egyptian and foreigners, the company now only has 35 employees.
“Certain jobs were canceled…all the sales people have been laid off,” El-Emam said.
Last week the company lost an estimated $43,000 due to cancellations, and projects losses to increase to LE 800,000. The staff has taken a 30-40 percent pay cut, and with no revenue flowing in, the management is using profits from the previous period to “whether the storm.”
“If things stay the same, with little trust in the current system, it will be hard to sell Egypt,” he said.
Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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Thinking about it, this is probably one of the safest times to come!
Prior to 2 weeks ago coming on holiday here normally went with a large degree of hassle, now the hassle seems to have reached zero in favour of protecting the tourist/foreigner.
I think those of us here now, including those who insisted on finishing their holiday, have seen a marked change in the whole atmosphere here, its changed from feeling the fear in Egyptians towards the police and security to one of 'we have a voice and a lot to say'. The feel is 'lighter' for want of a better word, ease.
I have seen many who are there, the smaller reporters from all over who are in the square, tweeting that the safest place they have felt is in the square.
The Egyptian people have shown that toppling a government can be done peacefully, with dignity and together as one.
The mass exodus of tourists driven by scared embassies and scared tour companies was through fear of war, another Iraq as after all this is a Muslim country and they have seen Iraq on tv Well now you have seen how Egypt does it, now you have seen the pride and dignity of the Egyptian people and how peaceful they are, not their goverment, but the masses. Nothing like this has been seen in the Middle East before.
Egypts tourism and everything Egypt has to sell tourism wise is all still here, the sites, the beaches, the hospitality are all still here but now in my view there is another selling point which the world has seen flashed across their tv's and computer screens and that is strength, pride, love, peace and dignity of the people which those of us living here see daily and those who are frequent visitors realize little by little each visit.
Egypt will recover from this. Looking at these guys they can weather anything and where else can you see things you can see in this beautiful country?
-------------------- If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them. Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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This days in Egypt sort of reminds my first time visiting the country,that was exactly some months after the notorious terrorist attacks in Luxor.Most of Cairo and Luxor were soo easy and comfy because mass tourism had come to a halt.Local vendors and almost everyone seemed to kiss our feet greeting and welcoming us Not sure if it was on 1998 or 1999.
Posts: 3833 | From: here,there,everywhere | Registered: Nov 2007
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My first visit to Egypt was to Taba, 3 months after the bomb at the Taba Hilton which was late 2004.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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Can't you edit it? Could be fun. Change all the links to [spurious website selling cheap tat - edited by Shanta, so ner ].
Posts: 1678 | From: New Egypt Forum - http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Dec 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Monkey: Can't you edit it? Could be fun. Change all the links to [spurious website selling cheap tat - edited by Shanta, so ner ].
ROFL
@sashy Hatshepsut massacre was in 1997. Hit Luxor tourism hard although I wasn't here then i have heard from people that lived here then and Egyptians of course.
Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Sashyra8: This days in Egypt sort of reminds my first time visiting the country,that was exactly some months after the notorious terrorist attacks in Luxor.Most of Cairo and Luxor were soo easy and comfy because mass tourism had come to a halt.Local vendors and almost everyone seemed to kiss our feet greeting and welcoming us Not sure if it was on 1998 or 1999.
I was in Cairo when both terrorist attacks happened which was in the end of '97 (infront of the Egyptian museum in Sep, Luxor in Nov). Our broadcasting station reported live many times and I had to work lots of overtime.
And yes I visited Luxor with my then bf now hubby in April of '98 and it was very quiet there, not many tourists around.
But Egypt's tourism recovered back then and it will recover after the still ongoing unrests and future major governmental changes. I am very positive about it.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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I was in Egypt in 92 for the major earthquake... and Egypt's tourism industry bounced back from that too. Over time Egypt will recover just like many other touristic attractions over the years that have suffered (New York, London for e.g).
When I was at the Red Sea last week the Manager of a section of the Hotel joined us for lunch and he said they were currently updating their website to say how unaffected the Red Sea area had been and we all submitted statements to support this to add to the website. (He wasn't fibbing either, where we were was magic).
I am also quite sure adverts on TV will soon start appearing globally advertising the wonder of Egypt, just like the one I saw yesterday on UK TV advertising Australia. They too suffered a tradgey this month but they are actively now seeking trade.
By Kathy Lally Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 15, 2011
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT - The people of Egypt spent nearly three weeks in the streets to wrest control of their lives from a suffocating regime. Now, they have to figure out how to pay for their dreams of freedom and prosperity, a challenge made all the more difficult by the recent unrest.
Here in this no-care-in-the-world resort town on the Red Sea, the palm trees wave over empty swimming pools, lonely waiters prowl deserted restaurants, taxis stand by the dozens in unmoving lines. The tourists are gone, their return date unknown, the losses uncalculated.
Tourism makes up 11 percent of Egypt's national economy, and in places such as Sharm el-Sheikh, which attract willing but poor hands from across the country looking for work, the effect of a downturn is magnified. Some estimates put the financial cost of the crisis at $310 million a day; the Central Bank said tourism could take a hit of up to $1.5 billion.
While this town was quiet during the protests that roiled Cairo, in cities across Egypt banks locked their doors, factories stopped production and large numbers of workers vanished, further straining the economy. EgyptAir said Sunday that it had canceled three-quarters of its flights during the crisis, losing 80 percent of the revenue it expected to collect.
Samir Radwan, the finance minister appointed at the end of January as former president Hosni Mubarak was trying to appease protesters, said economic growth would be affected for the rest of the year.
One of Egypt's biggest tasks ahead, he said, is to create jobs in an economy with a pre-crisis unemployment rate of 9 percent, a figure widely considered far below the actual number. The lack of jobs has been felt most keenly among young people, the very ones at the heart of the protests. According to the World Bank, the national income per capita was $2,070 in 2009. And the gaps are enormous between the well-off and the poor.
Here in Sharm el-Sheikh, the satisfaction with what the protests accomplished has been accompanied by frustration with foreign governments that declared the whole country unsafe for their citizens, driving away the all-powerful tourists.
"Look around you," said Abdel Fatah El Assy, the local tourism minister, waving toward his window at the undisturbed street beyond. "It is safe, it is peaceful, it is perfect."
Normally at this time of year, hotel occupancy is 65 to 70 percent, he said. Right now, it is 14 percent. That means a devastating loss of work, though no figures for job cuts among the 70,000 people employed in tourist-related businesses in Sharm el-Sheikh have been reported publicly.
As the German, French, Italian and Russian governments warned their citizens off, tour operators lost their insurance, shutting down travel. Only the British have kept coming, fully insured.
Russian tourists, according to news reports in their home country, had no interest in fleeing the beaches of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh; they returned home only when airlines were told to stop flying here and tour groups were ordered by Moscow to stop taking new reservations. They make up 1.5 million of Sharm el-Sheikh's 4 million annual tourists, and last week Alexander Lukashevich, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said not one had complained of a ruined vacation because of the protests.
Meanwhile, El Assy sits at his desk, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up, awaiting the tourists' return. And if Americans are moved to help a nation trying to rebuild, he knows exactly how they can help.
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When cocktail hour comes round in the Egyptian Mediterranean resort of al-Masr these days, there are no tourists to watch the soft darkness snuff out the iridescent turquoise of the sea.
Slinky music echoes a little eerily along deserted terraces; this is twilight in the twilight zone.
We were a party of three - the only guests in a 550-bedroom hotel.
The only arrivals from Europe this winter have been the migratory starlings which squeal and bustle deafeningly as they roost in the neatly-trimmed palm trees.
November on Egypt's northern coast is hardly peak season, of course, but the simple truth is that the television images of political violence in Cairo and
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Well now you have seen how Egypt does it, now you have seen the pride and dignity of the Egyptian people and how peaceful they are, not their goverment, but the masses. Nothing like this has been seen in the Middle East before. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Could be fun. Change all the links to [spurious website selling cheap tat - edited by Shanta, so ner ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
].
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