Yahoo – AFP,
Jay Deshmukh, November 7, 2015
 |
Mounting
evidence that the Airbus A-321 was downed by a bomb has prompted
several
governments to warn their citizens against travelling to the Egyptian
Red Sea
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh (AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed)
|
Sharm el
Sheikh (Egypt) (AFP) - Mohammed Mansour worries that the Russian tourists at
his hotel could be the last for some time after Moscow stopped flights to Egypt
over the downing of a Russian airliner.
"About
50 percent of my hotel occupants are Russians," Mansour, manager of a
leading five-star hotel in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, told
AFP.
 |
President
Vladimir Putin has ordered all
Russian flights to Egypt to cease, hitting
the tourist industry in Sharm el-Sheikh just
ahead of the peak holiday Christmas
and
New Year season (AFP Photo/Mohamed
El-Shahed)
|
"Since
the 2011 revolution, the Germans, French and other Europeans are already coming
in small numbers," Mansour said, referring to the uprising that toppled
longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
"Now
if the Russians avoid coming, Sharm el-Sheikh will be doomed."
"I
don't know what happens tomorrow," he said, adding that more than 100
Russians were currently still at the hotel.
On Friday,
President Vladimir Putin ordered all Russian flights to Egypt to cease after
Cairo and Moscow initially dismissed a claim by the Islamic State group that it
downed the plane flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, killing all
224 on board.
Nine of
those killed in the October 31 crash had stayed in Mansour's hotel, including a
woman and her two children, he said.
Mounting
evidence that the Airbus A-321 was downed by a bomb has prompted several
governments to warn their citizens against travelling to the Red Sea resort.
But Putin's
order on Friday delivered a devastating blow to what is easily the jewel of
Egyptian tourism and a favourite holiday hub for Russians.
'Look at
the chaos'
The resort,
long promoted by Egypt for its pristine beaches and scuba diving, has attracted
millions of tourists a year, including hundreds of thousands of Russians and
Britons.
 |
At various
hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh, stranded Britons mostly stayed indoors or
on private
beaches, ready to leave for the airport at short notice (AFP Photo/
Mohamed
El-Shahed)
|
Before
Putin's decision, some two dozen flights a day had ferried thousands of
tourists between Sharm el-Sheikh and Russia.
Moscow said
that nearly 80,000 Russians were in Egypt on Saturday.
Hundreds
queued at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, waiting for their bags to be screened and
hoping they could fly out.
"I
really don't care what happens to Egyptian tourism now. I just want to go home
safe," said Alessandra Kondratieva.
Tourists
said many people would also avoid Sharm el-Sheikh because of the way airlines
handled the situation in the crash aftermath.
"Look
at the chaos. Nobody knows anything," said Bhuvesh Patel, an investment
banker from London who has been stranded with his three-year-old son and
pregnant wife.
"This
puts a negative spin on the holidays and makes you think never to come
back."
Sharm
el-Sheikh had already been badly hit in 2005 when a series of bombings killed
nearly 70 people, but it soon bounced back.
However,
what happened to the Saint Petersburg flight could haunt the town for a long
time.
 |
Tourists
queue up at check-in counters at the airport of Egypt's Red Sea resort
of Sharm
El-Sheikh on November 6, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed)
|
"Tourism
in Sharm is driven by Russians," said a senior official with one foreign
airline, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Russian
tourists are very resort-based, and Sharm meets that profile."
"But
Russians are also very disciplined. They take their government's decisions very
seriously. At least for the near term, tourism in Sharm will be hit."
Jihadist
attacks
Every fifth
Russian tourist going abroad flies to Egypt, Russian tourism officials say,
adding that even the turmoil that followed the 2013 ouster of Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi failed to curb their numbers.
Tourism has
faltered in Egypt since the anti-Mubarak uprising in 2011, however.
Instability
and a rising tide of attacks claimed by jihadists have deterred many would-be
visitors, damaging the economy and sending foreign exchange reserves plunging.
Last year,
just under 10 million tourists visited Egypt, sharply down on the 15 million
who came in 2010.
Tourism
accounts for about 12 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product and some 15
percent of its foreign exchange reserves.
And much of
this comes from Sharm el-Sheikh.
Once a
remote beach on the shores of the Red Sea, the town thrives all year.
 |
Debris from
the A321 Russian Metrojet airliner at the site of the crash in Wadi
el-Zolmat, a mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, pictured on November 1,
2015
(AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)
|
Attractions
such as Soho Square are popular for their brightly lit streets, cafes, pubs and
children's parks.
"All
this will just die if the Russians and Britishers stop coming," one
tourist guide told AFP of Soho Square.
"The
consensus among intelligence agencies has emerged that an explosive device was
planted on the plane, that Sharm el-Sheikh airport was infiltrated," said
Fawaz Gerges, professor at the London School of Economics.
"Imagine
the long term impact of this. Sharm el-Sheikh is a lifeline... It is the only
bright spot for Egyptian tourism and now it has been dealt a devastating
blow."
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