Winter Hotel Rates in Egypt Rise Up to 20%, With Flights Into Hurghada Up 10% and Marsa Alam 9%

Egyptian hotels are opening the new winter season with accommodation prices up to 20% higher, according to the Arabic tourism trade outlet Tourism Daily News, which attributes the rise to a jump in international flight traffic and the demand expected to come with it.

Hurghada and Marsa Alam are both part of that growth, though neither is the fastest-growing. Tourism Daily News puts winter international flight growth at:

• Sharm el-Sheikh: up about 55%
• Luxor: up between 20% and 33%
• Hurghada: up 10%
• Marsa Alam: up 9%

The outlet's reading is that the two numbers are linked: the more seats arriving from abroad, the more confident hotels are about raising room rates and filling them at the same time. It describes the season as a shift in the market equation — from competing simply to attract visitors, towards squeezing the most return out of each room.

New routes from European and Asian markets at the start of the season widen the mix of nationalities arriving and cut reliance on a small number of traditional markets, the report says, which it frames as a chance for destinations to reach guests with different spending patterns. On the Red Sea specifically it credits Hurghada and Marsa Alam's spread of product — beaches alongside water-based activities — with keeping demand running through the winter.

Tourism Daily News also flags the risk in its own analysis: raising rates without matching service quality can cost a destination its competitiveness.

The report names no hotels or chains, gives no average room rate in pounds or euros, and carries no tour-operator response.

For anyone booking now, the rise lands on rooms for this winter rather than on contracts already signed. Hurghada News reported this week that Hurghada hotels are already past 90% full and Marsa Alam up to 93% as the season opens, and that November packages to Hurghada are getting dearer — the same tightening market seen from the booking side.