Thoughts on the future of Sharm

[jar546]

As a frequent traveler specifically for scuba trips, Egypt has been on my list of places that I absolutely want to dive. One of my dive buddies was suppose to go there this past February but the trip was cancelled and he rebooked for next year in the Maldives with a credit from his liveaboard. As of now, neither he, nor I have any plans to book anything in Egypt until everything has settled down and has more "normalcy". If that takes years then oh well, there is a whole world out there to dive. From the traveler's perspective we are looking for safety in location along with a stable political environment. Right now, Egypt lacks the latter. So for now, I won't be checking prices or booking any flights to Egypt. My friend is already booking his 2013 trip elsewhere as well, so neither he nor I will have Egypt on our radar for at least the next 2 years.

I hope that this feedback helps.

Regards

 

[macrobubble]

I know this thread disappeared into the realms of politics and religion in the region, myself included, but I think a lot of that is more relevant to the people who actually live and work here, whereas most vistors probably won't notice much difference,...

I think you can not seperate religion and politics from tourism if you want to discuss the future of Sharm (or Egypt as a whole). Both are intertwined heavily and both have a huge impact on the decisions the european tour operators will make for the next year(s) and on the image that is created in the european holiday makers minds.

Though it is correct that in reality so far there was and is no (or not much) difference to see and feel compared to the last years for the tourists, it is the demonstrations, the stupid interviews of certain members of certain groups, the uncertainty of what´s going to happen and the commentaries in the european media that create a picture of Egypt - be it realistic or not. Holiday decisions are in lage part made based on emotion. It´s not like buying a car or building a house. It´s about "feeling good" about where you want to go. It´s about not wanting to worry about anything during your vacation. It´s all about image!

And the image of Egypt is mainly determined by religious and political debates these days!

 

[Crowley]

I know macrobubble, and I could debate the politics and religion thing endlessly with good folks such as yourself and Shadow and of course, living here and following the news and speaking with Egyptian colleagues most of us have a reasonable understanding (and a lot of opinions, myself included) of what the future may or may not hold for us - but what I really want to hear is the thoughts of people whose experience of Egypt is limited solely to diving tourism. What are they being told by tour operators, what are they seeing in the newspapers, what's happening on the high street, do they feel uncomfortable coming to Egpyt or do they not care about the political situation, and so on and so forth. All of our customers came here because they are not worried, many of whom are repeaters and are familiar with Sharm and Egypt, whilst many of them have friends back home who are telling them they are crazy to visit at the moment.

Jar546's reply is exactly what I am looking for - so thank you very much indeed for that Jar - and I bear no grudges against people who think in these terms. The same thing happened in Thailand after the bloodless military coup in 2006 - everything was perfectly safe but what most people read was "military coup" and therefore, not knowing all the facts, quite sensibly stayed away from Thailand.

Thanks again,

C.

 

[Peter Guy]

Well, I'm off to Cairo - Hurghada on Monday for 10 days so I'm hoping there will be no issues.

Crowley, expected temps? I'm planning on my 5 mm wetsuit instead of diving dry. Oh, and we are supposed to be going all over the place -- north and south!

 

[Interceptor121]

In Sharm two weeks ago 27 at 30 meters and 29 at the surface
This year the water is not boiling, you will be perfect with a 5 mm if you do many dives per day or alternatively a 3 mm with some undergarment for the night dive or first die of the day

 

[TSandM]

I haven't been worried about coming, but virtually everyone at work to whom I have spoken about the trip has asked me, "Aren't you nervous about going to Egypt right now?" So clearly there is a common perception that it is not a safe place at the moment.

On the other hand, nobody approves of me going to Mexico, either . . .

 

[robertarak]

I'm worried about going to Egypt in less the 24 hours...and it has nothing to do with the civil unrest (or the zombie mummies either).

 

[macrobubble]

I'm worried about going to Egypt in less the 24 hours...and it has nothing to do with the civil unrest (or the zombie mummies either).

Afraid of flying?

 

[TSandM]

Afraid of the "blue gloves of death"

 

[Druid]

We've been to Dahab 10 times (I think) since 2003, last time was May this year. Although we took a package deal for the first few trips we've travelled independently for the last 5 years. We're planning another trip next year, but we've noticed that flight prices have increased, can't say if that's just flights to Sharm or if flights in general have got more expensive.

We're not particularly concerned by the political situation as it has had very little effect on daily life as a tourist, apart from the fact that it's much less crowded. Prices in Dahab are much higher than they were, it's not quite as much of a cheap holiday as it used to be.