“The bomb attack on the Church of St. Mark and St. Peter in Alex won't affect tourism,” said Egyptian Tourism Federation President Ahmed al-Nahas. Assistant Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said the impact of terrorist acts targeting locals was different from those targeting tourists. “But we cannot say for sure that tourism won't be affected in case al-Qaeda is proven to be behind the attack,” he added. “Our offices abroad gave the right picture to travel agencies and to the media,” said Sami Mahmoud, head of Egypt's international tourism department. “We will know if incoming tourism has been affected by the act once we complete our statistics for January and February.” Tourism Ministry Undersecretary Ahmed Atteya said hotel occupancies in Alexandria have not dropped. “Occupancy rates are between 60 and 70 percent as usual this time of year,” he said, explaining that this is the season for international conferences held in Alexandria. Tourism Federation representative in Alexandria Waseem Mohi Eddin said the police have tightened security measures in hotels. “This act did not target tourism,” he said. “It was meant to damage our national unity.” His colleague Emad al-Banna assured that no bookings have been canceled so far. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
