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Fears of violence in Egypt is prompting more and more Indians to cancel their plans of visiting the country, at a time when it had climbed the preference list of favourite destinations, alongside Bangkok, Malaysia and the US.
Around 30,000 Indian tourists visit the country every year, which is in turmoil now, according to The Indian Association of Tour Operators (Iato). The past two years had seen Indian traffic to Egypt growing at a compounded annual growth rate of over 15%. But that is now almost flat owing to clashes between Egypt’s military-backed government and the Muslim brotherhood.
Leading travel portals too have advised their customers not to visit the country of pyramids.
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According to global reports, the former is now targeting the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood and intensifying a propaganda campaign against it amid signs of a strategy of encouraging rank and file members to break away. Fearing clashes in Egypt, some countries have issued travel advisory asking not to visit Egypt.
“This year, we are witnessing huge cancellations from Indians in their Egypt travel plans. It’s a premium destination but the fear of further violence has caused the damage,” said Gour Kanjilal, ED at Iato which has over 1600 members across the country.
“Egypt has always been an attractive tourist destination from a historical, architectural and cultural perspective. Given the current turmoil, we have been proactively advising customers enquiring about the destination against travel till normalcy is restored in the interests of their own safety,” said Madhavan Menon, MD, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd.
Terming it as a blessing in disguise, Kanjilal claimed that the Egypt turmoil has benefited the Indian domestic tourism. “We have seen the traffic from neighbouring countries of Egypt such as Turkey, Greece, coming to India. The appreciation in dollar is making India a more attractive destination for them,” he added.
Best Western India, part of global hospitality major, echoed the same by explaining how the political volatility had actually given an unexpected boost to the domestic market.
“Egypt was one of the highest growing destinations and it is inevitable that people from neighbouring countries would now be more interested in India. Weaker rupee will act as catalyst for them,” said Sudhir Sinha, COO at Best Western India.
This is the season when almost 60% of foreign traffic visit India. Every year 6.5 million foreign tourists visit India. While USA, Asian countries contribute the most but the contribution of countries such as Turkey has been growing towards India.
According to Kanjilal weak rupee had also added to the misery of Indians cancelling foreign travel plans. Almost a sharp dip of 30% has been witnessed by Iato members in booking for foreign destinations owing to volatile rupee.
