New hotel bookings across Egypt’s tourism sector have fallen by up to 90% over the past few hours amid the current military tensions in the region, a member of the board of the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies said.
The official, who spoke to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity, said the crisis has also disrupted the departure of some tourists currently in Egypt after airports in their home countries stopped operating. He said flight disruptions have all but halted new bookings and left the fate of previously confirmed reservations unclear.
He said Taba, Nuweiba, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab were among the worst affected, but argued that the aviation crisis has effectively spread the damage across all tourist areas, whether close to the conflict or far from it, because “no one wants to come to the Middle East until the situation stabilizes.”
The sharp decline follows the United States and Israel’s announcement of the start of a coordinated air assault targeting several Iranian cities.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began retaliating with missile salvos toward Israel and US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, disrupting regional air traffic.
In June 2025, two tourism-sector sources said the mass exodus from Israel during the 12-day war with Iran produced inflated occupancy rates in hotels in Nuweiba and Taba in South Sinai governorate, describing the stays as “transit, for only two days,” before travelers moved on to other countries.
In March, tourism investors in Taba, Nuweiba and Dahab filed a complaint with relevant government bodies against the Labor Ministry’s Emergency Aid Fund for workers, citing delays in disbursing government support meant to offset losses from the Gaza war, which lasted for months and sharply reduced hotel occupancy in the area.
The fund refused to accept applications for what investors called the “tenth installment” for staff at hotels in Taba, Dahab and Nuweiba, arguing that Israel’s war on Gaza had ended. Investors have demanded the support continue until tourism in the region fully recovers.
