Exodus of tourists
E GYPT’S income from tourism has dropped by 43% in 2014 to date due to ongoing unrest keeping holidaymakers away — there has been a 30% drop in tourists visiting Egypt so far this year.
Since President Mubarak was deposed in 2011, the tourism sector had remained upbeat, especially at the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada.
But about 15 countries issued travel warnings against Egypt after a coach carrying Korean tourists was bombed by Islamist extremists in February. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all but essential travel to the South Sinai area, with the exception of the Sharm el Sheikh perimeter barrier, which includes the airport and the areas of Sharm el Maya, Hadaba, Naama Bay, Sharks Bay and Nabq Bay.
St Catherine's Monastery — a popular day trip from Sharm el Sheikh — is now off-limits.
ISLAND FOR SALE
POVEGLIA, an island in the Venetian lagoon to which thousands of Bubonic plague victims were once exiled from the city, could soon become a luxury hotel. An estimated 100 000 Venetians died on the island in the 16th century when the republic was fighting an outbreak of the plague.
The Italian government is planning to auction it off to reduce the country’s mounting debt.
The island once also housed a mental hospital, built by a doctor who tortured his patients with lobotomies.
It is presently uninhabited, with no visitors allowed, but the ruins of the hospital, a church and a crematorium still stand.
Unsurprisingly, to this day Venetians are superstitious about the island and see it as purgatory for evil souls.
NO MOUNTING EVEREST
NEPAL is trying to stop a strike by Sherpa guides on Mount Everest after the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on the mountain killed at least 13 of their colleagues last Friday.
All climbing came to a halt this week as the guides demanded insurance money, aid for the victims’ families and better rights.
Expedition teams declared a week of mourning with no climbing taking place. About 400 foreign climbers from 39 expedition teams were on the mountain with an equal number of Sherpa guides. Many of the climbers could forfeit the money they have spent to climb Everest, which can be up to R900 000.
The Sherpas want the minimum insurance payment for those killed on Everest to be doubled to 2-million rupees (about R216 000), and they say that a portion of the climbing fee charged by the Nepalese government should be reserved for a relief fund. Nepal earns about R35-million annually in Everest climbing fees.
END OF OPERA SEASON
AFTER a record 2013/14 season, MSC Opera will leave South African waters tomorrow, to return in October this year.
MSC Cruises carried over 128 000 passengers over the 2013/14 season, with the MSC Opera having achieved a 93.8% occupancy and the MSC Sinfonia 92.3% occupancy.
MSC Opera hosted 88 929 passengers on various cruises between November 2013 and April 2014, operating the sought-after Mozambique three- and four-night cruise itineraries.
The 2014/15 season is already 20% sold, and only MSC Opera will be returning to South Africa for a short season, because the remainder of the Lirica Class ships are to be dry docked to undergo major conversions.
MONASTERY DAMAGED
THE monastery of St Sergius above the ancient settlement of Maaloula in Syria was damaged this week in that country’s ongoing civil war. It is one of the villages in the mountains northeast of Damascus, where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken.
The monastery is dedicated to a Roman officer who was martyred in the fourth century, for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. For months, it was occupied by Syrian rebels who took advantage of its commanding position over Maaloula.