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South Sinai hotels occupancy varies in last week of November Zaazou says ban of flights from UK and Russia costs tourism EGP 2.2b per month and hopes revenues will reach $6bn by end of 2015
Tourist occupancy in hotels and resorts in Sharm El-Sheikh varied this week between 20% and 50%, according to an official at the Egyptian Chamber of Hotels. Further, there are hotels where the occupancy does not exceed 5%. According to the official, the hotels with the highest occupancy are those with a large flow of Egyptian and European nationalities whose countries did not impose travel warnings yet. "I expect occupancies in the region will increase by December after the significant decline in flow of tourists in Egypt after the Russian plane crash in Sinai in October," the official said. The UK and Russia stopped their flights to Sharm El-Sheikh until any information related to the Russian plane crash is revealed. "Sharm El-Sheikh's tourist occupancy will increase in the upcoming period along with the increasing flow of Egyptians due to the need to support one of the important sectors of the economy of their country," Head of Tourism Activation Authority Samy Mahmoud said. The Ministry of Tourism is coordinating with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to increase the number of flights from some Arab countries in the next month. Egypt's tourism income amounted to about $5.2bn during the first nine months of this year. The official from the Egyptian Chamber of Hotels said the occupancy of hotels in the Red Sea is better off than it is in South Sinai and that there are some touristic cities where the occupancy exceeds 60%. Marsa Allam is the best touristic city in terms of tourist occupancy for the time being compared to Hurghada, and the former's occupancy is expected to exceed the barrier of 70% by the end of 2015. In previous press statements, Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou said the flight bans from the UK and Russia cost Egyptian tourism EGP 2.2bn per month and hopes that revenues will reach $6bn within by end of 2015 compared to $7.3bn in 2014.
