CAIRO: Hotels across Egypt saw more guests last quarter, tourism minister Zoheir Garranah confirmed over the weekend. Hotel occupancy rates in Cairo reached 78 percent, 69 percent in Alexandria and 80 percent in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada for quarter two, according to Egypt's State Information Service. Occupancy for Nile cruisers remains low at 45 percent, while occupancy rates in Luxor reached 65 percent, Al-Ahram reported. Some local hotels have felt a positive change in occupancy rates bolstered by the recovery of the tourism sector in recent weeks, while others continue to struggle to full rooms. "The occupancy rate figures declined just slightly from last year from about 90 percent to 88 or 89 percent now. I expect occupancy to be higher during the coming month before dropping radically in Ramadan, said a representative from the marketing department at Fairouz Hilton hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh. "Our occupancy rates have declined from last year to below the 78 percent level, said Caroline Selim, marketing director at the Sonesta Cairo Hotel. Egypt's tourism sector was one of the industries hard-hit by the effects of the economic crisis. In March, local hotel occupancy rates saw a 15 percent dip as tourist traffic slowed. Occupancy rates fell 20 percent from last year and there was a decrease in the number of tourist nights. The average tourist residence period declined as well due to the financial and economic conditions which without doubt affected us negatively, Garranah told Al-Ahram. "However, 25,000 rooms have been added over the past year, which accounts for some of the drop in occupancy, he continued. Since the onset of the crisis, the ministry of tourism has aimed to keep the drop in occupancy numbers at 12 percent overall through a program of marketing campaigns and by increasing cooperation with local and international travel companies. Eighty percent of our work during the last period was to cooperate with travel agencies in Egypt and abroad; they were key partners and have played a big role in helping us intensify our marketing campaigns to European tourists to increase arrivals, Garranah told Al-Ahram. The sector has shown signs of improvement this month, with arrivals for the first week of July up year on year and total revenue losses stabilized at 9.5 percent for the first half of 2009. "Decline rates reached zero at the beginning of the month and the rate of foreign tourism has begun to increase, Garrana stated. According to Daniyah Darwish, an economist and tourism sector expert at Cairo investment bank EFG Hermes, the improved quarter two numbers can be attributed to increased internal and foreign tourism during the Easter holidays in April. Occupancy figures for April were up slightly due to Easter travel. Since both Easters fell in April this year there was a lot of internal travel as well as foreign tourists coming in. Whether or not the figures will continue to rise in quarter three remains to be seen, she said. Despite positive figures for last quarter, Darwish cautioned that the summer season could see another drop due to competition from other destinations. The summer season has more competition from other destinations like Tunisia and Turkey, so unless Egypt hotels offer competitive packages, we may see a decrease in European arrivals in the third quarter, she said. -Additional reporting by Nehal Magdy and Raghda El-Halawany.
