Hurghada hotel room rates rise as the winter season opens

Hotel room rates in Hurghada are rising as the winter season begins, with occupancy running between 80 and 95 per cent and some resorts fully booked, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports.

Arrivals come mainly from Germany, Russia, Britain, Poland and Czechia, on both charter and scheduled flights.

Essam Ali, a tourism expert quoted in the report, put traffic at an average of 100 flights a day at Hurghada airport. He linked the higher room rates to stronger demand for Red Sea destinations and to what hotels are paying for energy, wages, maintenance, services and food.

The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry has warned hotels and resorts on the Red Sea that it will take legal action against breaches of the minister's decision setting minimum accommodation prices, which it says is aimed at countering the under-pricing of trips sold in foreign markets. The scale is $50 per person in a five-star room, $40 at four stars, $30 at three stars, $20 at two stars and $10 at one star.

Mohamed Shamroukh, managing director of a Hurghada hotel group, said increases are also shaped by peak demand, the volume of advance bookings and the contracts hotels hold with foreign tour operators, and that they vary from one establishment to another depending on occupancy and pricing policy.

Sayed El-Gabry, head of the Hurghada chamber of tourism companies, said the city's season depends heavily on foreign markets and that Egyptian guests account for far less of winter occupancy. Estimates circulating in the sector put them below 5 per cent of movement in Hurghada on some readings, which he attributed to the school year and the end of holidays for Egyptians working abroad.

El-Gabry said the harder question is whether the upturn turns into wider earnings for workers and for shops and services, and that prices still have to cover what it costs to keep hotels running.