The repercussions of the global financial crisis on the tourism industry in Egypt

Abstract

The Implications of the Global Financial Crisis on the Tourism Industry in Egypt. This study aims at identifying the implications of the global financial crisis on the'Tourisrn sector in Egypt. The study also revealed the negative implications of the financial crisis on the tourism and aviation sector in Egypt, as well as on the foreign investments allocated .to the tourism sector in the destination. Additionally, the negative impact of the global financial crisis has extended to the employment sector in Egypt, particularly the tourism and hotel sector, as well as the services associated with it. The study finally suggests some recommendations that could help the tourism sector in Egypt in lessening the negative impacts of the financial crises. Among these recommendations is; the Ministry of Finance should cooperate with the tourism sector during the financial crisis in terms of offering a partial or total deduction of the sales tax on all the tourism services in the destination. Also the principal tour operating companies in Egypt should merge in order to reduce the cost of its services through the economies of scale, especially after the losses that affected its key operations due to the financial crisis. Similarly, the Egyptian national carrier should merge, with other similar Arab and African aviation companies so as to reduce its operational costs, particularly offering tax exemptions on the fuel in order to reduce the price of its tickets during the financial crisis. Finally, the tourism and hotel sector in Egypt should implement a social programme that aims at encouraging all the tourism establishments to prevent redundancies as an immediate response to the financial losses incurred as a result of the global financial crisis. Instead, it should positively exploit these circumstances through conducting extensive human resources training programmes in order to improve its performance which will reflect on the quality of its services, hence be capable of sustaining the negative implications of the financial crisis.