Egypt shores up tourism in shadow of Gaza war

Egypt is offering incentives to shore up its tourism industry in southern Sinai on the Red Sea, against the backdrop of the Gaza conflict. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00 Egypt has begun offering incentives to help support its tourism industry in the southern

00:04 Sinai on the Red Sea.

00:06 Speaking on Monday, Egypt's tourism minister, Ahmed Issa, said the war between Israel and

00:11 Hamas in Gaza had begun to affect the sector.

00:14 "So far the impact is on the customers who have bought the regional products because

00:20 the tourism sector in Israel is actually practically shut down.

00:23 So this is where we're seeing the most significant impact.

00:27 Within the grand scheme of the overall size of bookings, that represents less than 10

00:33 per cent of the total number of bookings in Egypt."

00:36 Tourism is a key source of scarce foreign currency for Egypt, which was on track to

00:40 earn more than $13 billion this year and hit a target of 15 million visitors.

00:46 But ratings firm S&P Global warned on Monday that a fall in tourism due to the conflict

00:51 could cause significant problems.

00:54 The impact is likely to also be felt in countries such as Lebanon and Jordan, due to travellers

00:58 postponing or cancelling holidays to the Middle East and North Africa.

01:03 Although Issa insisted tourists were committed to Egypt.

01:06 "We're hearing from them that as people realise the geopolitics and that the Red Sea

01:14 resorts are far and away from what's happening in the region, we're seeing significant

01:23 escalation again to the normal levels of the reservations for the season December to February."

01:29 Egypt is offering an extra $500 of incentives per flight landing in Sharm el-Sheikh and

01:35 is working closely with wholesalers, retailers and airliners.

01:39 Sharm el-Sheikh is about 225 miles south of Sinai's northern Mediterranean coast, which

01:44 borders the Gaza Strip.

01:47 The Palestinian group Hamas carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel from Gaza

01:52 on October 7, killing 1,400 people and seizing around 240 hostages in the deadliest day in

01:59 Israel's history.

02:01 It triggered an Israel-Hamas war that has seen the heaviest Israeli bombardment of Gaza

02:05 in 75 years of conflict.

02:07 According to the Hamas-run health authorities, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed.