Political upheaval in Egypt will cost Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) some $3 million.
The figure, which IHG said is an initial estimate, was revealed in a current trading update in IHG’s annual results.
John Bamsey, IHG’s chief operating officer for the Middle East and Africa, said like lots of businesses across Egypt, hotels were impacted as a result of the disruption.
Now that the disruption is coming to an end,” he said, “it’s business as usual and we’re looking forward to welcoming guests at our hotels.”
Bamsey said IHG is committed to expanding its presence in Egypt, mainly in Cairo, Alexandria, and Sharm El Sheikh.
“We’ve been in Egypt since 1987 and have 10 hotels open and a further four due to open over the next couple of years,” he said.
“Egypt is the cultural epicentre of the Middle East and one of the most important leisure destinations in the world.”
The Rezidor Hotel Group has also seen a downturn in Egypt, said Marko Hytonen, area vice president, Middle East.
“The recent unrest and the subsequent corporate and leisure travel bans, have had a very negative effect on the industry as a whole in Egypt,” he said.
“We have seen an impact on business in both our city hotels in Alexandria and Cairo and also our resort properties in El Quseir, Sharm el Sheikh and Taba.”
Hytonen said that before the unrest, the outlook for 2011 was “very strong” but overall performance during the first half of the year in 2011 is likely to be impacted.
“However, on a positive note,” he said “history has proven that Egypt’s tourism sector can recover very fast and we are hopeful that we will be able to reach our targets in the second half of the year.”
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