Alexandria- Economic activity in Egypt’s coastal cities along the Red and Mediterranean seas picks up during the summer, partly easing the unemployment and recession that persists throughout the winter.
Ashour Al-Saidi, a fifty-year-old security guard at a property in Matrouh Governorate on the northwestern coast, told Al Jazeera Net that movement returns to the city’s streets with the summer season, which revives the economic situation of the governorate’s residents during the winter, when “life here is almost dead, the shops are closed and the streets are empty.”
As for rental prices, Ashour added that they increased significantly at the beginning of the summer, reaching a 100% increase compared to last year, with the rise in inflation and the attraction of Egyptian and foreign vacationers.
As for Najla, the owner of a shop selling accessories and children’s toys, she says, “The restaurants and cafes spread along the Corniche, as well as other shops and shopping centers in the coastal city, are witnessing great momentum and an increase in the rates of demand at the outlets during the summer.”
But things change, according to Najla, during the winter months when we suffer from unemployment, recession and face a harsh reality.
Samer Aboud, manager of a private beach in eastern Alexandria, expects the situation to remain the same during the summer months after a temporary revival of some activities during the Eid al-Adha season.
He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that he – and his peers in the coastal city – live in a state of unemployment for many months during the winter, so he is forced to be frugal and rely on his small savings to secure his needs.
Winter Season Challenge
For his part, Mohamed Saad, director of a tourism company, told Al Jazeera Net that the winter season poses a major challenge to many service and commercial sectors in coastal tourist cities. After the end of the prosperous summer season, these areas witness a noticeable decline in the number of visitors and tourists, and this situation greatly affects the sales and income of many establishments.
“The government is making some promotional efforts for tourist cities, but it is still not enough to attract tourists during the winter, and we still lack the necessary support to do so, so we are forced to reduce working hours and reduce the size of the staff to adapt to this reality,” he added.
He called on the authorities to provide tangible support programmes for these sectors during the winter season, including:
- Granting partial exemptions from taxes and fees.
- Providing incentives for companies to maintain employment levels.
- Implementing tourism infrastructure development projects and other assistance mechanisms to overcome the challenges of the winter season.
Over-reliance on summer tourism
For his part, economic expert and professor of economics Dr. Alaa Hasaballah believes that the excessive reliance of seasonal tourism cities on summer tourism activity makes them extremely vulnerable and affected by economic fluctuations; hotel occupancy rates in some areas reach less than 10% in the winter, which leads to a significant decline in revenues and profits and a contraction in the volume of tourism spending in this season, and limits the ability of companies to invest and employ workers on a permanent basis.
Hasaballah explains that the economic effects of the seasonality of coastal cities extend to include sectors related to tourism such as transportation, restaurants, retail and services, which negatively affects the size of the GDP of these cities.
The professor of economics stressed the need to address this problem, through:
- Launching intensive promotional campaigns.
- Developing diverse tourism products to attract tourists throughout the year.
- Encouraging private initiatives by hotels and resorts to stimulate movement in the winter seasons.
He stressed the need to diversify the economic activity of coastal cities between agriculture, industry, and others, so that workers and residents can find job opportunities during the winter instead of being left prey to unemployment or resorting to illegal activities such as smuggling contraband, especially in the border governorates.
Preparations for a successful summer season
The Director General of the Ministry of Tourism in Alexandria, Abdel Wahab Mohamed, says that tourism activity increases during the summer in the coastal governorates, including Alexandria.
He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that demand has increased this year for some domestic tourist destinations.
Abdul Wahab Muhammad pointed out that preparations are in full swing to make this season a success, noting that he expects the 2024 summer season to be strong, especially after the rates of occupancy and hotel reservations reached 90% within the Alexandria Governorate.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Tourism has faced major challenges in recent years to stimulate tourism during the winter season.
Abdul Wahab said: We organized promotional offers and packages with tourism companies and hotels, and focused on highlighting the most important events, festivals, cultural and entertainment activities held in coastal cities. Despite these efforts, we still face some challenges, including competition with other tourist destinations in surrounding countries and weak infrastructure in some areas.
“But we are working hard to face these challenges and enhance the role of our cities as a distinctive tourist destination throughout the year,” he added.
The importance of the tourism sector
In turn, the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at Alexandria University, Dr. Sayed El-Sayfi, confirmed that those in charge of tourism in Egypt still have a lot of effort to make to transform the country into a tourism giant in the Middle East by investing in all the beaches of the North Coast region and turning it into an area that attracts tourism throughout the year.
He called for establishing many hotels and tourist complexes and organizing many artistic and musical events throughout the year.
Al-Sayfi pointed out that the recent increase in incoming tourism revenues to Egypt came thanks to the country’s stability during the recent period, in addition to the interest in tourism investment in hotels, museums, and other things.
Al-Sayfi confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that tourism is one of the most important sources of Egyptian national income and a major source of foreign currency.
He pointed out that Egypt’s tourism revenues increased by 8% during 2023 on an annual basis to about $13 billion, while the number of tourists arriving in the country last year increased by 27.4% compared to the previous year to reach 14.91 million tourists.
He also pointed out that the average tourist spending amounted to about $93 per day, with an average stay of 9.5 nights during the year 2023.
Al-Saify expected that the number would increase this year to more than 15 million visitors to Egyptian resorts and tourist destinations.
