Hurghada's October Is Running Ahead of September, and Christmas Bookings Are Already In
A Red Sea tourism investors' association member tells Al-Watan the first third of October beat September, with European arrivals expected to climb over the next two months and December bookings already taken.
12 October 2026
Hurghada took in more visitors over the first third of October than it did during September, according to Mohamed Falah of the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association, who told Al-Watan the traffic the city has seen this month is good.
He expects the next two months to bring higher numbers still, particularly from Europe, and said hotels in the city have already taken bookings for the Christmas holidays in December.
Egyptian guests are few in Hurghada's hotels at the moment, he said, simply because this is not a domestic holiday period.
Falah described Egypt's tourist traffic since the start of the year as very good given conditions in the Middle East since the beginning of 2026 — conditions he said pushed up global fuel prices, raised airfares, and led a number of foreign tour operators to stop running flights to countries in the region.
Thousands of visitors prefer Egyptian destinations for those end-of-year holidays, he told Al-Watan, among them Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Luxor, Aswan and Cairo.
No arrival figures or occupancy rates were published with the comments, so this is the industry association's read of the market rather than official statistics. The practical signal for residents is a busier town through November and December; for anyone still planning a trip, December capacity is already being taken up.