Sharm - good luck to you!

Crowley:

I went to work this morning to find that my one diver (yes, we were going to run a whole boat for one person) has canceled because she is sick. Our other boat which is off to Ras Mohamed today has all of three people on board. There are no courses, even though we are allowed to conduct them now. In fact, we have more staff working than guests.

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I'm quoting from another thread but I think Crowley's post highlights a problem that's probably going to get worse before (if) it gets better. I realise that a lot of the posters on this board are based out in Egypt full time so I thought that it might be useful to get a British perspective on the current problems:-

(1) The shark attacks have put a lot of people off from Sharm.

(2) Those people not put off by fear of the sharks themselves are - like me - currently put off by the various restrictions on types of diving, training and snorkeling.

(3) There's a recession in Europe whilst the cost of air travel (incl taxes) keeps going up (if the air-carrier doesn't go bust in the meantime) and the pound stays weak against the Euro.

(4) ...and finally, probably the biggest issue at the moment, the attacks and the uprisings.

The first three were probably bad enough (as reported by various posters on this forum) but I'd imagine that the last will probably be the cause of some serious tail-off in tourism. This evening's BBC1 News at Ten had coverage of burning cars and news of 800 arrests and massive clamp downs. Coming after the coptic attacks and the general terror threat in the Middle East I'm not surprised that a lot of people are being put off from visiting.

I've always loved Sharm, find Egyptians generally agreeable and enjoy the great diving in the area. But, personally, I have limited funds and limited time for travel, so I need to make my diving trips count for everything they're worth. Unfortunately, that means I might have to look elsewhere this year... I'm not too concerned by either shark attacks of the uprisings in Cairo, but:-

(a) I need to know that there'll definately be diving on the go in Sharm. You can't insure against the CDWS banning diving again. Egypt is a long way to go from the UK with a whole lot of kit if the police close the jetties.

(b) Even if the jetties are open, news of the police instigating a early curfew (which keeps the dives short) doesn't fill me with joy.

(c) Is night diving even allowed at the moment? If not then that alone has me looking at Dahab...

(d) ...and, if I'm paying for a hotel with a beach, I want to know that the beaches will be open, not just for guided snorkeling but for me to be able to enjoy a good long swim out to the wall for some relaxed free diving and off coast fish spotting.

(e) Lastly, and quite importantly, the non-charter flights situation from the UK is uncertain at best. Last year divers travelling from Bristol had Goldtrail and then KISS Airlines both go bust in rapid succession and some people had to book the same flights up to three times just to keep their hotel deposits! I looked into flights out more than a few months ahead and a lot of the flights are still "tbc" out of Bristol. Given recent history, there's no way I'd consider booking any diving on the basis of flights which could so easily be cancelled on account of either another bust UK air-carrier or political instability.

The end result is that I'm surprised that anyone would want to travel to Sharm for diving from the UK at the moment. So, I thought that this would be a good time to book for the spring/summer. But no, direct return flights are still £350-£450 and accomodation prices are marginally up on last year. Add in the weak pound against the Euro and there's almost nothing to recommend Sharm to UK divers other than the promise of unusually quiet dive sites.

I hope that the situation changes but, at present, it just doesn't surprise me that so many dive centres and dive guides targeting European divers are reporting that they are struggling in Sharm.

I'm sorry to say it, but good luck to you!

My perspective is a bit different.

Sharm's existence is probably mostly based on the tourism industry. Is that a fact? I think most people will agree on this.

It had suffered in the past from terror attacks (hotel bombings), as well as global economical recessions, middle east wars (e.g. the gulf wars did not directly involve Egypt but they had an impact on all tourism) and many other factors that usually have some influence on the flux of tourists, thus make things worst for anyone who depends on tourism for his existence- most of the population in Sinai probably depends on tourism.


However, it looks to me that all these things that I've mentioned above, including the last shark attacks, appear to have a relatively short timed effect. It is winter now, it's business low tide of the year. My feeling is that when spring comes, tourists will start kicking the water again and when the summer shines it will just be like in previous years.

For example, I was diving in Sharm during the time of the first gulf war (winter of 1991) and the city was almost a ghost town, deserted even in winter terms- probably more than after the shark attacks. When I came back in spring it was full as usual...

So threats come and go, they leave a couple of bad months and then things just go normal again as usual.

Seems to me that in the bigger scale of things, Sharm actually does have good luck.

Just got back from Egypt - Dahab. Diving was awesome as usual, very quite, in fact I did a great Gabr El Bint boat trip, had the boat and all the dives sites just to myself and my dive buddy.
Beautiful weather, Sea 23 degress, typical amazing viz.. Beautiful, just beautiful..
Simple as that.

Nuff said..

Red Sea Leonfish:

I'm quoting from another thread but I think Crowley's post highlights a problem that's probably going to get worse before (if) it gets better. I realise that a lot of the posters on this board are based out in Egypt full time so I thought that it might be useful to get a British perspective on the current problems:-

(1) The shark attacks have put a lot of people off from Sharm.

(2) Those people not put off by fear of the...

Ans so on...

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Thanks for posting. You have nailed all my concerns.... and the reason why I just passed on IDC in Sharm.

The thing is, today I can go a place where Gas costs just 0.53E/lt., 5 euro airfills, 150 euros each way airfare, 14 euros a day car hire, 35 Euro a nigh rooms. Relatively safer and far more western...





I'm going to Florida.

=C=:

The thing is, today I can go a place where Gas costs just 0.53E/lt., 5 euro airfills, 150 euros each way airfare, 14 euros a day car hire, 35 Euro a nigh rooms. Relatively safer and far more western...

I'm going to Florida.

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I often go to a (good) place in Sharm el Sheikh where double rooms are 20 to 45 euro a night (i.e. 10 to 22.5 euro per person, including breakfast) and a boat dive is 23 euros. Direct return flight Geneva-Sharm (I repeat: back and forth) by EasyJet costs me less than 100 euros (check-in luggage included) out of school holidays. There is also an Easyjet flight direct London-Sharm AFAIK. I don't need a car in Sharm, and the corals are gorgeous in Tiran and Ras Mohammed.

I am planning to go back to Sharm el Sheikh ASAP . BTW I believe that Sharm is safer than Florida, both for crime rate and shark attacks.

PS: as I am no advertiser, I won't tell about the name of the place (either here or by PM) but it's not that hard to find.

Hi - Sharm isn't the only place if worried about sharks. Try Hurghada. We went for the 1st time last year and we are already booked with easyjet for May. We can see our dive boat from our balcony (staying at Safir Hotel) and the diving is great if a photographer. Also no dive guides which means we can macro dive. Give it a try.... here's our 1st attempt at a video and you can see the dive boat is just great and never full. Some pics at the end of video.

I doubt we will see any response now from Egyptian based members as the internet is now cut off.

I do a reasonable amount of business in Egypt and am now particulary worried about the inability to send e-mails and contact my distributor who is based in Cairo.

It will be a case of wait and see. If Mubarak falls, which is possible, there will be a vacuum as there was in Iraq, and that could lead to anarchy and chaos similar to what happened in Iraq after the fall of Saddam.

I for one would not be booking any dive trips until the situation stablizes.

Well the UK government is now officially declaring parts of Egypt as off of the holiday destination list...

BBC reports UK Foreign Office warns against travel to parts of Egypt
29 January 2011 Last updated at 11:55
"The UK Foreign Office has advised Britons against all but essential travel to several cities in Egypt due to ongoing anti-government protests. It warned against travel to Cairo and the tourist centre of Luxor, as well as Alexandria and Suez, but said transit through Cairo airport was unaffected."

The live coverage is reporting an orderly evacuation taking place at Cairo airport! I can't see many people being willing to book any holidays to Egypt even to places like Sharm outside of the trouble spots.

One of my ex-colleagues who is just on his way to Sunny Saudi, reminded me that back in '79 the popular uprising against the Shah left a vacuum which was filled by a very anti-western regime.

The Israelis are either mobilizing or stocking up on Pampers, I would reckon the former.

For the first time, BBC's news coverage of the disturbances actually cite problems in Sharm El Shiekh:

"2149 A word of warning for tourists who had been planning a winter break along Egypt's Red Sea coast-line... the BBC's Alex Bellfield is on holiday in Sharm El Shiekh, where he says the atmosphere has changed dramatically in the past few hours, with barricades being erected and staff huddling around TV screens to catch the latest news on the protests. "We were told now we're not allowed out of the hotel until at least tomorrow night... They're getting nervous here, that something's going to happen.""