Competition between foreign travel agencies operating in the Red Sea has increased, leading to a significant decline in accomodation prices in resorts and hotels on the Red Sea.
Travel agencies have pressured hotel owners and resorts to reduce prices, thereby harming the Egyptian tourism industry.
In a 2015 list of global competitive tourism prices among 140 countries, Egypt is currently at the bottom.
Travel agencies do not take into consideration the cost of services provided to tourists, according to Abdel Naby Aboul Hassan, a tourism expert.
Some travel agencies offer a one-week stay at 5 start hotels, including airline tickets, at 370 euros. Travel agencies offer trips to up-scale locations, like Gouna, to Dutch tourists at only 400 euros, Aboul Hassan said.
The price for the same trip to Abu Dhabi, for instance, is 2,696 euros, he pointed out.
Bashar Abu Taleb, the head of the tour guides in Hurghada, said that the type of foreign tourists who currently visit Hurghada come from a lower social class and therefore spend less money.
Official statistics on the rates of Arab tourists to Egypt showed an increase estimated at 19 percent during the period from January to July 2015, compared to the same period of last year.
The number of Qatari tourists, however, dropped by 43 percent, compared to the same period last year.
The number of Israeli tourists increased by 17.5 percent, despite warnings about instability in Egypt.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
