Tight security measures have been imposed at Red Sea tourist resorts and hotels as celebrations of the New Year and Coptic Christmas draw near.
Occupancy rates reached between 50-70 percent at hotels and 90 percent at Red Sea tourist resorts. However, the rate declined to 25 percent in Sharm el-Sheikh and reached no more than 20 percent at Luxor hotels, compared to 40 percent in Aswan hotels.
In related news, an informed source from the Chamber of Tourism Establishments in Hurghada, said that the security warnings of Western nations and the US will not affect occupancy rates in Sharm el-Sheikh, adding that there are no US tourists in the city.
Several tourism experts described the warnings of traveling to Egypt and Jordan as ‘routine advisories’ that are made at the approach of the Christmas celebrations. The experts blamed the warnings on the return of some "Islamic State" (IS) fighters to Tunisia and on fears of terrorist actions in the Middle East as a whole.
Meanwhile, Central Bank of Egypt Governor Tarek Amer declared that a fund has been established, with a capital of LE5 billion, to finance the maintenance of hotels and extend the terms of tourism sector debts until 2018.
He also revealed that the government investment in tourism reached LE58 billion.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
