The role of marketing in Egyptian hotels in times of crisis: a field study applying to five-star hotels in Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Hotels studies department, faculty of tourism and hotels, Suez Canal University

2 Department of Hotel Studies - Faculty of Tourism and Hotels - Suez Canal University

3 Hotel studies department, faculty of tourism and hotel, Suez Canal University

Abstract

The sector of tourism and hotels is one of the most important and an integrated sector of human activity, but it is still very sensitive to the tiny local, national and international changes. So this research aims at evaluating the negative effects of crises on the Egyptian hotels sector, in addition to evaluating the effectiveness of hospitality marketing as a tool of managing crises. Methodology of the research depended on the Secondary data which were collected from previous studies, and The primary data were collected through depth face to face interviews with the sales and marketing directors in five star hotels in Cairo (11 hotels) as well as sales and marketing offices of the hotels and resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh based in Cairo (16 hotels and resorts). To get their opinions about the research problem and compare these opinions with review of literature to extract results. The study showed the following results that: The hotels in Egypt have undergone So many crises that resulted in severe ill effects, and there are no pre-prepared plans to manage any potential crises. So it is necessary to prepare various marketing plans to manage any probable crisis. Moreover co-operation between the same area hotels and the official authorities is also recommended to plan wide-scale advertising campaigns to the target markets.