beyondbrics

Just under a year ago, Vladimir Putin quipped about the resilience of his people noting that Russian tourists continued to head for Egypt even as revolutionary turmoil gripped the country and other foreign nationals fled.

Putin understands how to talk his people up. However, do the numbers bear him out? And how is Egyptian tourism faring?

It has been almost non-stop political turbulence for Egypt since the revoltion which ousted Hosni Mubarak as president last year. Throughout, however, Russian tourists have continued to visit. Figures published this week show that 1.8m Russians came to Egypt in 2011, making them the country’s top visitors followed by the British and the Germans.

Amr al-Ezaby, chairman of the Tourism Promotion Agency, says tourists from Russia, Poland and Ukraine have been far less daunted than others by the upheavals in the country. They have made for respectable occupancy rates in beach destinations like Hurghada and Sharm al Sheikh whereas occupancy in Cairo and the Upper Egyptian towns of Luxor and Aswan has been a pathetic 10-15 per cent.

Ezaby said, however, the number of Russian visitors has fallen by 35 per cent over the year before, in line with the general drop in tourist arrivals in 2011 which has gone down by a third to 9.5m. But he is looking to Russia for the recovery.

“The Russians are resilient. They are one of the markets where we plan to increase our investment this year,” said Ezaby.

Russian tourism operators, he explained, were more flexible than the British and the Germans when it comes to scheduling flights and redirecting spare airline capacity. They are not locked into specific destinations a long time in advance so they can mount flights to Egypt at shorter notice, said Mr Ezaby.

In the summer, he said, Russian charter flights go to Turkey, but when it gets too cold there, they switch to Egypt.

“We are one of the three top destinations for Russians,” said Ezaby. “It is still not very easy for Russian travellers [in winter ] to head for a destination like the Canary Islands for example because of the need for a European visa.”

Tourism receipts have declined from $12.5bn in 2010 to $8.8bn last year.

Related reading:
Tourism: is Egypt’s loss Dubai’s gain? beyondbrics
Egypt needs tourist tide to flow in again, FT
Egypt: the Russians are coming (back), beyondbrics
Middle East tourism: Waiting for sunnier times ahead, beyondbrics