Cross-border fallout

As regional tensions remain at an all-time high, Israeli tourism to Egypt is plunging to new lows. Rehab Saad investigates
Egyptian hotels and travel agents are reporting a drop in the number of tourists visiting from Israel as well as a decline in package tours between the two countries. The dramatic drop in cross-border tourism is being attributed to Israel's current military operations in the Palestinian territories.
Until 1999, Israeli tourists were among the top five nationalities visiting Egypt. Some 415,000 Israelis flocked to the country on an annual basis, mainly visiting south Sinai. When the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in September 2000, however, the number of Israelis visiting Egypt dropped by 21 per cent to 235,000 tourists. As clashes intensified in the Palestinian territories, the number of Israeli tourists continued its gradual decline. By January this year, Israel no longer ranked even among the top 10 leading countries in terms of tourist visitors to Egypt, despite being a neighbour with a relatively wealthy domestic market.
Moreover, as a result of the continuing Intifada and the drastic drop in tourism to Israel, package tours targeting Egypt, Israel and Jordan were also affected. According to travel agents, this kind of regional tourism is now virtually dead. "What we used to call the 'Holy Land package,' combining religious sites in Egypt, Jordan and Israel is completely over," says Hassan Shalaby, head of the Sharm El-Sheikh office of Travel Plus Tours, a firm that extensively deals with the Israeli market.
Surprisingly however, Israeli tourism gained momentum in February and March. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics' figures -- the Ministry of Interior's passport department -- Israelis climbed back to the eighth and ninth positions respectively in the number of tourists visiting Egypt.
But "these figures are not composed of Israeli Jews but of Israeli Arabs who travelled to Egypt in the past few months to celebrate the festive season [Eid Al-Adha and Easter]," says Shalaby. "Forget about Jewish Israeli visitors. They can now be counted on one hand," he added.
However, Shalaby believes that even the number of Palestinian citizens of Israel -- which Israel calls "Israeli Arabs" -- visiting Egypt is on the decline. According to Walid Dweidar, another Travel Plus Tours employee who meets Israeli tourists at Taba's entry point, there were three to four buses daily receiving Arab Israeli tourists before the Intifada broke out. Each bus accommodated 50 passengers. "This means there were about 150 to 200 tourists coming every day. Now the number of visitors doesn't even fill one bus," he said.
Dweidar explained that the Palestinian/Israeli tourist traffic is seasonal. Palestinian/Israeli tourists resemble the Egyptians in their touristic patterns and traditionally travel only on holidays and festive seasons such as the Lesser Bairam, the Greater Bairam, Easter and summer holidays. "As for the Israeli Jews they used to come with their own cars and spend their weekends in Sinai on a regular basis," he said.
According to hoteliers and travel agents, the area between the border city of Taba and Nuweiba is the most affected by the clashes taking place in the Palestinian territories. Hotels in Taba and Nuweiba have been reporting very low occupancy rates whereas hotels in other areas in South Sinai -- Sharm El-Sheikh being one of them -- are only slightly affected, Israeli tourists being just one of several nationalities that choose to holiday there.
"The Israelis were making up 90 per cent of the occupancy rate in most of the one and two-star hotels located in the area between Taba and Nuweiba," Shalaby said. Moreover, tourist camps in Ma'gana and Tarabeen -- famous tourist spots by the sea near Nuweiba that include a number of bungalows and tents -- were used solely by budget Israeli travellers, he added.
Tourist decline was not only reported in these budget hotels. The effect is also being felt in Taba and Nuweiba's five-star hotels.
According to Carmen Ramzy, regional public relations manager of Hilton Hotels Egypt, the number of tourists staying at the Taba Hilton Hotel, the majority of which were Israelis, dropped by 70 per cent. "Israelis are now coming in very small numbers as individuals. Some of them come only for the casino. It is no longer the kind of back-to-back tourism we used to witness," Ramzy said.
The same drop has been noted in other five-star hotels situated on a nine-and-a-half kilometres stretch that has been dubbed the Egyptian Riviera and which extends along the Gulf of Aqaba's northern strip. This Egyptian Riviera project was established to compete with the Red Sea Riviera project, a joint venture between Israel and Jordan on the Gulf of Aqaba that was set up following the 1994 signing of the two countries' peace treaty.
Although the Basata tourist village -- which includes bungalows catering for budget tourists -- is located in the area between Taba and Nuweiba, it has not been affected. Sherif El-Ghamrawy, the project owner, says the village is fully booked all year round.
"I decided not to receive a single Israeli since the Intifada erupted although they used to come in very large numbers. I know that it is a big market but when it comes to dignity choices have to be made," he told the Weekly.
El-Ghamrawy's policy from the beginning was not to depend on one market, namely the Israeli, as most of the camps around him did. "They did this to themselves. They were limited to one unstable market. Now this camp business is ruined," he said.
Since he started operation, 16 years ago, El-Ghamrawy marketed himself in the European as well as the domestic markets. "I get many Egyptians and Europeans from various countries. I believe that my case is exceptional. I know other investors in the area who went bankrupt or who shut down because of the stagnation," he said.
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