Egyptian Resorts CEO Kamel Says Optimistic Tourism Will Pick Up
Egyptian Resorts Optimistic Tourism Will Rebound
Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
Egypt’s tourism industry lost $1.5 billion during the unrest, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported on Feb. 5.
Egypt’s tourism industry lost $1.5 billion during the unrest, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported on Feb. 5. Photographer: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
Mohamed Kamel, chief executive officer of the Red Sea resort builder Egyptian Resorts Co., said he was optimistic that tourism in Egypt would rebound because the industry has proved resilient to crises in the past.
“People are now looking at Egypt as a more competitive destination because of the exchange rate,” Kamel said in a telephone interview. “And during crises, more concessions are made to tourists to get business jumpstarted.”
Kamel added that it was too early to gauge the impact on the company’s land sales and that Egyptian Resorts is assessing the situation. “The tourism industry has to pick up first,” he said.
Protests demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30- year rule erupted Jan. 25 in Cairo and have left as many as 300 people dead, according to the United Nations. Egypt’s tourism industry lost $1.5 billion during the unrest, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported on Feb. 5.
Egyptian Resorts owns a 41 million square-meter (441 million square-feet) plot of land 22 kilometers (14 miles) south of Hurghada on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. The company develops the land with infrastructure such as water, electricity and communication links, and sells it to sub-developers in the hospitality or in the second-home business.
The Egyptian pound dropped 2.2 percent since the start of the crisis to 5.95 against the dollar.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Mahmoud Kassem at mkassem1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net
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