electric crisis threatens to leave tourism sector in thedark

[DJKeefy]

Egypt’s electricity crisis threatens to leave tourism sector in the dark.

Hotels expect losses due to electricity cuts this summer due to damage to equipment and expensive alternatives.


Tourism operators fear the effect
of power cuts on monuments and
hotels, driving away tourists.

Ministry suggests alternative energy sources to combat crisis as hotels fear heavy losses due to blackouts

The electricity crisis set to hit Egypt this summer has been described by those working within Egypt’s tourism sector as a “death blow”, considering the already fragile state of the country’s tourism industry. The use of alternative forms of energy, they said, would make the crisis worse, forcing facilities to resort to using costly fuel generators. However alternative “Green” energy sources are also costly and require a long period of time to activate.

Nashwa Talat, advisor to the Minister of Tourism, and director of the Green Tourist Unit, said that the Ministry would propose a comprehensive programme to support the use of green energy in hotels to help them combat the electricity crisis set to strike Egypt this coming summer.

The cost of implementing the programme, she said, would differ depending on the hotel and its energy consumption rates, in addition to its rate of conversion, with some hotels starting to use LED smart bulbs to reduce electricity usage.

She added that there were many different smart energy products available, such as lighting and air conditioning systems that turn on and off instantly as a person enters and leaves a room. She went on to say that the Ministry sought to provide funding incentives to hotels and tourist towns looking to convert their facilities to alternative energy. The Ministry would negotiate, she said, with banks, financial institutions and the Egyptian Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs to acquire soft payment loans for such hotels.

Talat stated that the Ministry would work on behalf of hotels, particularly smaller ones, seeking to acquire loans to convert to green energy by negotiating with banks and financial institutions to lower their interest rates. The Ministry had also succeeded, she said, in acquiring for a number of hotels a series of solar water heaters sold at a 25% discount.

Ashraf Ibrahim, President of the Tourist Department at the Egyptian National Competitiveness Council, described the country’s tourism sector as highly volatile and easily affected by the different crises that may affect the country, such as lapses in security and fuel and electricity shortages.

Foreign travel agencies, Ibrahim said, would not encourage their customers to travel to a country that suffered from a shortage of basic amenities. He went on to say that repeated cuts in electricity would damage hotel facilities, forcing them to resort to costly fuel generators.

In this scenario, he said, hotels would be forced to bear the burden of increased prices. They would be unable to pass them on to consumers, considering that many holiday packages are sold as fixed price agreements under contracts with foreign travel agencies. Ibrahim added that large, high-rise facilities in particular would be affected by cutbacks in the flow of electricity, because of the energy draining need to pump water up all the rooms.

He went on to say that the short-term solution for energy cutbacks would be to rely on fuel generators, rather than any kind of alternative energy, despite the environmental benefits.

Hatem Munir, Secretary for the Red Sea Hotel Facilities Chamber, said that hotels could expect to suffer from anywhere between EGP 100,000 to EGP 1m in losses as a result of fluctuations in the flow of electricity. Shortages in the Red Sea province alone could potentially affect all 258 hotels in the region.

Egypt’s Minister of Energy and Electricity announced that Egypt’s market was currently suffering a shortage of 3,900,000 megawatts of electricity. Munir further said that last week hotels in Hurghada suffered a two-hour blackout due to problems with hotel fuel generators and a shortage of the necessary fuel to operate them.

Source: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/04/1 ... -the-dark/

[Dusak]

Forwards planning could of helped matters as the power shortages are not exactly a new problem here. They carry on building the new hotels with out any back up power source that would alleviate possible future problems and the installation of smart technology is always far cheaper to include at the beginning of a build against that of the completion. I think that smart is the key word.

[Zooropa]

If you listen, you can hear the tap tap tapping as another nail goes in.



Sad, sad times!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Not that this is much comfort as you're sweating off an electric shut down but 'at least' hotels have pools where one could go to stand in the water vs flats where you're basically stuck. Electricity cuts particularly if they're random and prolonged are certainly not a positive for Luxor.

[BENNU]

Before the revolution we were a large group of women in a workshop with a great American oriental dancer. Everyone wanted to be near the master, so we stood very close in a hall without windows in a Cairo hotel. If anyone had moved we would have fallen over each other, when suddenly everything around us was black. “Stand still”, the diva said,”The only thing that makes any Egyptian hotel five stars is that when the light goes out, It will be back in a moment!”

A couple of days ago I arrived in Luxor at midnight. I was not well and did not feel safe going home alone in the middle of the night in that condition, so I spend some cosy days at Meridien. Yesterday I experienced 5-6 powercuts, each lasting up to several seconds, or rather, the time it always takes me to quote Shereen el Safy: ”The only thing that makes any Egyptian hotel five stars is that when the light goes out, It will be back in a moment!” That still works for me, but perhaps not for much longer.

[Chocolate Eclair]

Its the big Hotels that take much of the Electric supply in Luxor, their money wasting ways and inability to preserve Electricity stock. They too should be penalised as much as the people. in this way they will do something about the wastages.

[Dusak]

Coming home last night and turning into Madiena street just past the Chines on the same side there is an Egyptian market that sells clothes and what not. I thought that a passed into the daylight zone as they had fitted the place out with what to me looked like 300+ light bulbs. It was so bright that I had to avert my gaze. Even though they were the large energy efficient bulbs, they were way over the top. If the roof had been off it must of been visible from the orbiting space station.

[Chocolate Eclair]

I think the Meridian and the Sonesta are doing their bit, you never see them lit up like a Christmas Tree at night, but then again it may be they have no guests to warrant putting lights on, 12 rooms were lit up last night at the Sonesta, or maybe they are preserving the electric so the mountains can still be lit up.

The best part is the stupid candle they sell in Luxor are niether use nor money only for a cake!!

Better start getting more security gates and spiked irons up around the villa, because when the electric goes off for hours at a time the clefties will be out in force, due to the lack of money around the City. Also better warn the Police to start getting fit because they will find themselves getting bogged down with reports of thefts and robberies. Luxor will not be a good place to go out at night for anyone. The Courts will also have to work extra hours to deal with the Clefties too!!!