Magdy Saleh, former chairman of the Chamber of Travel Agencies, has announced that hotel occupancy in Hurghada will not surpass 40 percent during the Christmas holidays.
“This means we are losing 60 percent of our income this season,” he said, adding that the Red Sea section alone faces losses of US$500 billion a month for travel agencies, hotels, airlines, diving centers and desert safari organizers.
“One-day excursions from Hurghada to Luxor dropped from 50 to 15 trips,” he said, calling for tourists to be exempted from visa fees in order to encourage tourism.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
