Egyptian journey firms revenue on Turkey visits resulting from falling lira

Mohammed Abdel-Qader, who works in an Egyptian telecommunications firm, has been planning for a yr to spend New 12 months’s Eve in Turkey. “I’ve at all times wished to expertise snowboarding in mountainous areas,” he instructed Al-Monitor.

Abdel-Qader considers himself fortunate to journey at the moment in gentle of the drop within the trade charge of the Turkish lira. “This decline allowed me to go purchasing for garments in Turkey, with a complete finances of $2,000.”

In current weeks, the Turkish lira plummeted to 11.4 towards the greenback, rebounding from a report low of 18.10 on Dec. 20.

For Egyptian tourism firms, this downfall was an opportunity to market vacationer journeys to Turkey. Hussein Al-Ansari, director of an Egyptian tourism firm, instructed Al-Monitor he instructed his workers to encourage clients to spend their holidays in Turkey and make the most of the worth hole.

Based on Ansari, competing firms have taken the identical strategy. “Turkey is a close-by and low cost vacationer vacation spot for Egyptians,” he mentioned. “My clients ship me every day images of merchandise they purchased there at very low costs.”  He famous, nevertheless, that costs for flights and accommodations have remained unchanged as they’re paid in US {dollars}.

“Total, vacationers would save about 25 % of their journey finances in the event that they go now whereas the lira is low,” Ansari mentioned.

The costs of fundamental commodities, particularly meals merchandise, have risen sharply in Turkey this yr. On Dec. 5, the official inflation charge reached 21.3 % over final yr. On Dec. 20, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to  defend deposits in Turkish Lira towards market volatility.

Raed Younes, director of the advertising and marketing division at a Turkish tourism firm, doesn’t consider the lira droop would bolster tourism to Turkey. He argued that the tourism season ended on the finish of the summer time.

He famous, nevertheless, that the drop will barely increase the variety of Egyptian vacationers to Turkey, particularly those that like winter sports activities.

“It’s fallacious for tourism firms to faucet on the depreciation of the native forex as a advertising and marketing benefit to advertise their packages,” Younis instructed Al-Monitor. “Vacationers from overseas, particularly households, don’t care a lot in regards to the forex trade charge. Many of the vacationers’ finances is allotted to airline tickets and lodging. The low trade charge will solely enable vacationers to buy some items at comparatively low costs.”

Nevertheless, Nada Al-Banna simply returned from a week-long vacationer journey to Turkey that value her about $2,000. She spent half of that quantity on garments and presents, which she confirms have been of surprisingly prime quality.

“I didn’t hear any sellers of products or service suppliers attributing the rise within the value of their items to the autumn of the lira,” Banna instructed Al-Monitor. “Every day transactions have been secure.”

Banna believes the low trade charge alone isn’t sufficient to encourage vacationers to decide on a particular vacation spot. To go to Turkey, she solely wanted an entry visa, which was issued two weeks later by the Turkish embassy in Cairo. She obtained her safety approval a day later. Turkey is on the list of 18 countries the place an Egyptian citizen wants safety approval from the state authorities previous to visiting.

Regardless of these restrictions, Banna met many Egyptian vacationers, particularly households, throughout her journey.

Based on Attila Ataseven, the chairman of the Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen Affiliation, the variety of Egyptian vacationers who visited Turkey via September amounted to about 100,000, in comparison with 69,000 in 2020. He confirmed to Al-Monitor that Egyptian and Turkish tourism firms search to double this quantity in 2022.

The affiliation sought to cancel the visa requirement, “however the Egyptian officers refused to take such a transfer these days, fearing some vacationers would exploit this to flee the nation or exceed their keep period.” Ataseven believes the motion of vacationers and enterprise vacationers between Egypt and Turkey requires Cairo to facilitate visas and create some exemptions.

He expects Turkey to be the primary vacationer vacation spot for Egyptians, as a result of similarity between the 2 folks of tradition and customs. “That is along with the regularity of low-cost flights between the 2 nations, and the low costs of products and providers in Turkey for Egyptians, even earlier than the droop of the lira,” he mentioned.

“An Egyptian vacationer can journey, keep, and purchase high-quality merchandise at a finances near that wanted for a home flight in his nation,” Ataseven mentioned. He pointed to the prime quality of Turkish merchandise, particularly garments, that match European requirements, however at costs 50 % to 70 % decrease.