Egypt’s tourism arrivals reached 10 million in 2014, tourism income to grow more in 2015

Interview with Ahmed El Olimi, Chairman of Marsa Alam For Tourism Development

Give us an evaluation of the tourism and the hospitality industry. Please tell us about the progress, about your vision for the future.

Egypt is one of the most important countries in the region with a tourism industry. We have a lot of activities for tourists and a lot of interesting places to visit in Egypt. We have the Red Sea with the corals reefs, the Mediterranean Sea, the history and Cairo, Luxor and Aswan and of course we have the sun throughout the year. In addition to this, we, the Egyptians, are pros in welcoming, treating and serving the guests. We also have a lot of beautiful hotels, boasting beautiful architecture, designs, spacious rooms, good service and most of them are on beach side. Before the revolution, we had an average of 14 million guests a year. Due to the instability caused by the revolution, it has come down to 10 or 11 millions, but after the second revolution, after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became the president, Egypt has become stable again. This year our tourism number has reached a healthy 10 million. Admittedly, our income is not like it used to be in and before 2010, but hopefully the prices will start to increase from March 2015.

How have you been affected in the last two years, especially with respect to your activities in Marsa Alam?

We have been badly affected. As mentioned before, the political and economic crisis in and around the Arab countries directly affect Egypt and the tourism business here, but since last August, things are looking much better than last year.

And from the retail industry, you are moving into another line of business?

Well, it is not another line altogether, but the revolution has taught us that you have to put your put your eggs in different baskets. We realized that food industry has not at all been affected by the situation. The food, coffee, restaurant industry have all been thriving and making more profit throughout the revolution. So, we have diversified our business. Our company, Marsa Alam Tourism, is registered in the stock market. We have started investing in another business field. We have invested in another company called the Sons of Egypt. This company is in the retailing business and will open 10 supermarkets all over Cairo and El Giza. Our target is to sell food to the middle class. We want to stand by the government by selling at a reasonable price in order to stop the inflation in the food price. We will be opening these 10 branches around 2015 and 2016.

We have also developed Salawat Travel. This will take people from Egypt to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj. We have seen a lot of demand for this kind of tourism. The first fleet will start in the coming January 2015. 

Let’s talk a bit about your resort. Marsa Alam is located in South Eastern Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea. How are you promoting this destination?

The only way that we promote our resort is through tour operators, because Marsa Alam especially attracts various categories of Italian tourists, the second category is Germany. These two countries have their tour operators, who own charter flights, because we don’t have regular direct flights from Europe to Marsa Alam. So, we can only promote our product through tour operators who own charter flights. Since the last two years, we have been discussing this problem with the Tourism Minister. She knows this problem very well. We have discussed this with a lot of people in the government, and hopefully they will resolve this problem soon. 

How does your resort differ from other resorts in Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh? What does it have to offer to tourists as a city?

Each area has their own tourism attractions. Marsa Alam is known as the area with the virginal coral reefs, fishes of various colors, lots of big-sized sea creatures etc. These are the main attractions here and the wind of course. Marsa Alam is one of the most sought-after area for tourists who make use of the amazing wind here to engage in various water sports and for the divers as well. Unfortunately, because Hurghadahas become very crowded and constricted due to the various construction activities taking place there since the last 15 years. This has damaged the coral reef there. But one of the attractions in tourism is the nightlife there. A lot of people are very keen on the nightlife and so they go there, especially Russians. Sharm el Sheik is still very untouched. The government has been taking special care about the coral areas there and the city. So it is one of the most beautiful tourist cities all over the world. This is what attracts tourists here. Each city has its own attraction, but Marsa Alam’s attraction is chiefly coral reefs, wind and sea animals.

Please describe your resort Badawia.

We built it in 2005 and opened it in January 2006. We have 200 sea-view rooms, built using rocks and natural woods. From 2006 to 2010, we had very high occupancy rates. Our guests are mainly from the Italian market. Badawia is very well known in the Italian market. Lots Italians love it. They are waiting to come back. I think we will soon be collaborating with Italian tour operators very soon, starting from next January. Badawia is for the Italian market. We have tried with other markets, but the Italian market always asks for Badawia.

Coming back to the Salawat Travels, handling the travel between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, do you have a local partnership there? How are you going to build this company?

In Saudi Arabia?

Are you looking for some partners there? How do you propose to build this partnership?

We own the Salawat Travels completely. We developed it in 2009. We didn’t really activate it until this year. Legally, we must have a partnership with Saudi Arabia. We signed a contract with a company called Kossuer last week. We are advertising a lot in Egypt. The feedback so far is very good. Till now, the first fleet will have about 150 people. We are going to make a trip every 10 days. So far there has been a good demand in Egypt to travel to Umrah and to Hajj. Now, we are thinking of hiring a private charter flight, because there is a good demand to travel to Umrah. So, we are considering taking a ticket through Egypt Air or another flight. We are now researching this to consider the possibilities of taking our own chartered flight for the whole season, for the whole seven months. This means 3 flights every month, which will take 10 days to and fro.

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