FIve-star hotels in Luxor enjoyed a high occupancy rate five years ago. After the January 25 revolution, however, the rate fell to 20 percent, forcing some to close down, at least temporarily.
As for the 3-star hotels, they now try to attract Egyptian tourists to offset their losses.
Isaac Azmi, the owner of a 3-star hotel, took Al-Masry Al-Youm on a tour of his hotel. The lights are off and the rooms and the kitchen are empty.
“The Egyptian who come here are not tourists,” he said. “They are here on short business trips.”
“We had to reduce prices just to cover our running costs,” he added. “Meanwhile, electricity and water consumption prices were raised by 50 percent, not 35 percent as the government claims.”
“The rate was as high as 70 percent and sometimes even 100 percent in 2010,” he said. “Now, the 5-star hotels are matching our prices to attract our customers.”
He said some hotels were turned into hospitals or shopping malls. “What will the workers that were laid off do now?” he wondered.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
