Balbaa: A minimum hotel rate of $50 per room in 5-star hotels is needed
El-Shaer: Hotels are closing due to losses and falling tourist numbers, and expect more
By Akram Medhat - Travel Yalla journalist
Ahmed Balbaa, head of the tourism committee at the Egyptian Businessmen's Association, called for an urgent meeting with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to discuss the catastrophic crisis the tourism sector is going through and to find practical, unconventional solutions "so that we come out of the crisis with the least losses."
Balbaa said the tourism crisis following the Russian plane crash is making hotels rush to what they see as the easiest measure to deal with the crisis, slashing prices to attract tourists. Room rates at 5-star beachfront hotels have fallen to $25 full board, while the actual cost reaches $30, which means the level of service declines to make up for the losses.
This came during the Akhbar El-Yom conference held under the slogan "Making Hope... in the Land of Peace" to support tourism in Sharm El-Sheikh, broadcast live by the "Sout El-Shaab" channel and attended by a number of ministers, most notably the ministers of tourism, investment, social solidarity and international cooperation, on the day after the Cabinet's weekly meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh.
Balbaa stressed the need to activate the proposal "we have been calling for for years": that the Minister of Tourism set a minimum price of $50 for accommodation in 5-star hotels and that hotels be taxed accordingly, "so that we do not give them room to slash prices again," which would increase the state's tax revenue and raise the level of service. He pointed out that international agreements allow this in critical circumstances, so that no one can use them as an excuse.
For his part, Hossam El-Shaer, chairman of Blue Sky Group for Tourism and Hotels, stressed that many hotels have closed and more are at risk in the coming period, including hotels owned by his group, "and we could not hold out for 3 days," amid the general decline in tourist numbers, the cancellation of bookings for the New Year and Christmas season and, with the greatest impact, the disappearance of Russian tourists.
El-Shaer explained that there is no problem or question of sovereignty over airports in addressing the remarks made about Sharm El-Sheikh Airport by the countries that send the most tourists to Egypt, punishing those who fall short in their work, inviting international inspection committees to verify this, and assigning the training, management or supervision of security procedures at tourist airports to specialized international companies, because this opens the door to more fault-finding, with mistakes monitored and publicized worldwide in a way that affects Egypt's reputation as a tourist destination.
