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Egypt is losing about USD 310 million a day, a French investment bank has reported.

Credit Agricole also said that it was revising down its forecast for Egypt’s economic growth to 3.7 percent from 5.3 percent in 2011.

Since the beginning of anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt 11 days ago, banks and the stock exchange have been closed in the country. Many factories and businesses have also been shuttered in main cities.

The political crisis has also damaged Egypt’s tourism sector, which accounts for an estimated 11 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP).

According to Reuters, in the third quarter of 2010, Egypt was making about 280 million US dollars a week from tourism.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based think-tank, had earlier said that the Egyptian government’s decision to cut off the Internet and other communications services is likely to have cost Egypt USD 18 million a day.

PressTV

Turkish industry and trade minister Minister Nihat Ergün said that the visa requirement between his country and Egypt must be ended.

Turkey has recently lifted visa restrictions with Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Albania. Ergün said Turkey and Egypt shared deep historical and cultural relations and that the geography the two countries are situated on presents many opportunities.

Ergün said increasing the number of flights between Turkey and Egypt would facilitate business and tourism and that ending the visa requirement would contribute to the development of investments and tourism.

Hurriyet Daily News

Revenues and the number of visitors from last year are expected to be the same this year, as the effect of the global economic crisis appears to be less severe than expected.

Currently, the Egyptian tourism industry is 4-5 percent below last year’s revenues.

The Ministry of Tourism is investing even more (between $40 and $60 million) this year in marketing and promotion activities.

The ministry is registering higher and higher numbers of tourists from the US and China.

Ahmed El-Nahas, chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, pointed out that the tourism sector is employing 12 percent of the total labor force in Egypt and accounts for 11.6 percent of the national economy.

Over the past three years, the tourism sector has gathered more than LE 400 million to support community development projects; LE 122 million were allocated specifically to social service projects.

Excerpted from an article by Mariya Petkova for Daily News Egypt

The Search for the Authentic Other
A very substantial part of tourism, as we know today, is the individual’s search for authenticity; of people travelling away from their home societies to an authentic (often primitive) other; drawn by myths embedded in folklore, heritage, religion, literature.

It is this search for the authentic other that has brought tourism closer to religion, blurring boundaries between a pilgrim and a tourist.

This search for authenticity is thwarted by the tourism industry by setting up of staged authenticities – fake representations that are perceived as real by the pilgrim and the tourist.

Tourism for Recreation
The rest of the tourism movement is driven by recreation; of people whose centres are firmly rooted in their own societies, who travel to indulge in ‘play’ – a characteristic feature of post-modernistic society. These people are lured by the myths created by the tourism industry; indulge in pleasures – becoming paupers, kings, visiting miniature ancient Egypt etc.

The most striking example of this kind of tourism is the concept of theme park, notable Disneyland. The theme parks ‘recreate reality’ and creates myths about peoples, countries, concepts, civilisations etc. The tourist plays with these, often deriving a vicarious pleasure.

Excerpted from an article by Sarvajeet Chandra

Phase 0 “Training and Orientation”

A set of short presentation, each of 20-30 minutes is given that work as an orientation program for the participants. Topics include: Creative Thinking, Tourism in Egypt; Criticism and Hopes, Natural Heritage, Tourism in Egypt; Unbeaten Tracks, Heritage and Media and Egyptian folklore, among other topics.

Phase 1 “Heritage and Tourism”

Participants are divided into two groups namely “Heritage” and “Tourism”, each one shall be seeing its category as a must to be independent from the other. Discussions and negotiations are to take place between the two groups to get to a clear definition for the optimum relationship between heritage and tourism.

Phase 2 “Real-Life Case Studies”

For this phase, two real-life extreme cases are handled; the first one considered is where heritage was not made of use for tourism and see how that was for its good or bad. The other one is where tourism just treated heritage as a “raw-material” for a product! Discussions shall come up with a restoration plan for both cases.

With the work of the two groups, there exists the so-called “Board of Experts” that includes some experts from the field for evaluating and giving feedback about the proposed ideas and suggestions. Board includes Bassam El-Shammaa, Dr. Nafe’a Kotb, among others.

All the outcomes of the meeting shall be published in a paper, and be presented at Sakiat Al-Sawy on Friday, March, 13th that shall have invited government representatives and the supposed media focus.

Participation is open to all interested who would show creative thinking abilities, research skills, and good teamwork spirit. It’s your chance to use your mind, show your own ideas, and take the lead!

Email: hctt2008@gmail.com

Image by khalid almasoud via Flickr

Egypt will exempt hotels from paying contributions to the country’s tourism promotion authority and will cut fees paid by charter flights to help its tourism industry cope with the global financial crisis.

The ministry of tourism would also change its broadcast advertisement campaigns to focus on promoting Egypt as an affordable holiday destination.

The ministry of aviation has agreed to reduce landing and take-off fees, as well as ground handling fees for charter flights, and waive them entirely for charter flights that make 11 trips to designated destinations in the span of three months.

Tourism represents 6.6 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product and is the Arab country’s main hard currency earner. It has started to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis, with hotel bookings down 30 percent in January 2009 compared to the same month in 2008.

Yahoo News

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• Lower Tourism Revenue Expected for Egypt

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The city of Alexandria will host a museum displaying royal jewelry dating back to 1805, when Mohammad Ali’s era started. The museum will be open for tourists and visitors early 2009.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said the museum’s restoration took three years and cost LE50 million. “It is the largest Egyptian museum in terms of space,” the Minister said, adding that it had been constructed on a total of 4,185 metres.

He added “The building itself is a masterpiece as it used to be the palace of Princess Fatima Al-Zahra.”

Egypt State Information Service

The World Travel and Tourism Council expects the sector to rise from 16.1 per cent of GDP this year to 17.3 per cent by 2018 – equivalent to $39.5 billion and to account for one in every seven jobs. Export earnings from foreign visitors are expected to generate $12.9 billion this year, rising to over $20 billion in 10 years’ time.

With Egypt targeting to lure around 14 million tourists by the end of 2011, the report estimates that the country needs to build 240,000 hotel rooms by then and that this will require an annual investment of over $1 billion. This represents a huge opportunity for infrastructure developers, particularly hotel groups.

TTN

Abdel Aziz Ibrahim, a member of the Saudi royal family decided to get rid of 2,500 bottles of alcoholic beverages in stock by ordering their content drained into the sewers, without providing any notice to the American hotel chain managing the property, Hyatt International.

Fathi Nur, president of the Egyptian Hotel Association, is threatening to drop the hotel rating from five to two stars by July 2.

Drinking alcohol is considered contrary to Islam but it is not banned by Egyptian law. Hotel rules dictate that any hotel above two stars must serve alcohol. An owner is also not allowed to interfere in the running of affairs when there is a managing company.

Grand Hyatt spokeswoman Sally Khattab said the two parties were currently in talks to resolve the issue.

Associated Press

I welcome comments from someone who knows the consequences of flushing 2,500 bottles of alcoholic beverages into the Nile.

It also found emerging hotspots for vacations in 2008 were Jerba in Tunisia, Makadi Bay in Egypt and Phangnga in Thailand.

Airplanes were deemed the most germy, according to 28 percent of those polled, with public transportation next, followed by restaurants, hotels, and airports. Nearly half — or 45 percent — of travelers said their worst experience at a hotel was a dirty bathroom or dirty sheets but 17 percent said they encountered vermin.

Travelers are going greener, with 26 percent planning to be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in the coming year, with plans ranging from biking to hiking. And they clearly don’t want cell phones disturbing their peace, with 78 percent of travelers believing that mobile phones should not be allowed on flights.

http://africa.reuters.com/country/EG/news/usnN25232213.html