Culture

Russia/Ukraine war: Tourism flow to Egypt expected to decline by 35%

Published

1 year ago

March 9, 2022

Egypt’s tourism sector is facing fallout due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Since Russia launched a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine on February 24, Egypt’s tourism sector – a major income generator source – has been negatively impacted.

According to Vice Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Moataz Sedky said Egyptian tourist destinations will likely be negatively impacted with tourism flow predicted to decline 35 percent.

The consequent Western sanctions imposed by European countries on Russia will lead to further deterioration of the Russian currency, Egypt Independent reports.

Sanctions also banned Russian transfers on the Swift system, thereby impacting financial transfers made by Russian tourists in Egypt.

Price hikes in the two countries due to the war will cause Russian and Ukrainian citizens to refrain from traveling abroad, he explained.

However he noted that as Egypt is a receiving market for tourism, it has the ability to adapt to events.

“If we go back a little, we will find that the Eastern European market, especially Russia, tourist flow was suspended for a period of six years to Egypt due to the accident of the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai on October 31, 2015,” said Sedky.

Egypt had succeeded back then in focusing on alternative and atypical markets, and the flow of tourism rose, approaching 13 million tourists, he explained.

The total number of tourism companies operating in the Russian and Ukrainian market does not exceed three or four companies, and only one or two chains of hotels, while the rest have other markets in which they operate – so the damage caused will only be to a limited number of Egyptian hotels, he added.

The decisions taken by the Hotel Establishments Chamber to host stranded tourists in Egypt because of war, whether they are from Ukraine or Russia, will positively impact Egypt’s reputation abroad, especially since the decision has been widely reported across western social media websites.

Culture

Burna Boy becomes most streamed Nigerian artiste

Published

1 day ago

June 3, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Grammy-award-winning Nigerian singer, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, is now the most streamed music artiste on all streaming platforms after overtaking Wizkid who was the undisputed leader.

In its current release, Top Chart Africa posted that the “Love, Me, Damini” exponent who dropped a new single “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” on Friday, topped the list of “most streamed Nigerian artistes on all visible streaming platforms with 8.47 billion combined streams, closely followed by Wizkid with 8.39 billion streams.”

The leading pop culture platfurn which focuses on African creatives, takes a poll of the most streamed act every month with a release at the end of the month.

The talented singer, songwriter and record producer who is also set to break the attendance record with a sold out London Stadium for his “Top of the World” on Saturday night, also dusted the likes of Davido who 3.76 billion streams, Rema with 3.67 billion streams and CKay who polled 3.28 billion streams to complete the top five most streamed artistes.

Other Nigerian artistes who made the list include Tems, Omah Lay and Asake who made his debut on the chart.

Culture

Egyptian Coptic Christians celebrate entry of ‘Holy Family’ into Egypt

Published

2 days ago

June 2, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Egyptian Coptic Christians on Monday, June 1, celebrated the historic entry of the “Holy Family” after travelling from Palestine through Sinai and into the Delta, before moving far south to Assuit, where they spent almost four years before leaving.

The Egyptian government which announced and promoted the celebration, said the project would restore and renovate 25 holy sites that were stopping points for the Holy Family during their stay in Egypt.

The Egyptian government said in the statement that stops had been fully restored and openned for visitation in various governorates such as Cairo, Kafr al-Sheikh, Al-Gharbeyyah, Al-Sharqiyyah, Al-Beheirah, and Al-Minya, while other important stops would be renovated for the celebration next year.

“This national project is part of the government’s efforts to preserve such historic sites, benefit local communities, and promote religious tourism,” the statement said, noting that the festivals related to the “Journey of the Holy Family were added to the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List in 2022.”

The entry of the Holy Family to Egypt has become a national celebration of the Coptic Orthodox Church with the Fraihi rite on the 24th of the month of Bashans of the Egyptian calendar, which is the first of June of each year, as celebrated in the first centuries AD.

The journey of the Holy Family which had Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus, according to the Coptic Christians, took them three and a half years where they had to make several stops.

“All three of them, Jesus who was two years old at the time, his mother, the Virgin Mary and his father, Joseph the carpenter,” the church history said.