Towards the Revitalization of Egyptian Nile Cruises: Opportunities and Challenges

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Hotel Management, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Beni Suef University

2 Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Luxor University, Egypt

Abstract

 Cruises are currently regarded internationally as arising tourism activities and the Nile Cruises have become one of the important components of the Egyptian tourism sector. The research is aiming at providing an overall and current profile of the Egyptian Nile Cruises as well as demonstrating the opportunities for, and challenges against the Egyptian Nile Cruises’ revitalization. A questionnaire has been distributed among 35 managers of sampled floating hotels to illustrate the latest condition of the Nile Cruises. An interview has also been conducted to explore the opportunities, challenges, and visions for Egyptian Nile Cruises’ development. It has been concluded that most of Egyptian Nile Cruises have been negatively affected by the sequences of critical crises that led to work stagnation and a decrease in profitability. Recently, there is an undesirable influence of the COVID-19 outbreak on Nile Cruises since the cruise ship is the first hospitality establishment adversely influenced by epidemics. However, Cruise trips are still a potential tourism field in Egypt as Upper Egypt is a unique tourist destination that surely guarantees tourists’ demand. Finally, it is proposed to adopt modern marketing tools to attract new market segmentation and sign protocols with inspection companies to control the health and safety as well as manage the anti-virus infection and protection procedures.

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