Balloon crash causes concern for weakened tourist industry, tourism min comment

• published: 31 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST ++AP Television is adhering to Iranian law that stipulates all media are banned from providing BBC Persian or VOA Persian any coverage from Iran, and under this law if any media violate this ban the Iranian authorities can immediately shut down that organisation in Tehran.++ AP TELEVISION - (Egypt material) Luxor, Egypt 1. High shot of boats sailing on the Nile river 2. Wide of the Luxor temple 3. Wide of small tourist boats parked on one of the Nile river banks 4. Close-up three empty tourists boat docked on the river 5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ahmed Moustafa, Boat owner: "The boat business is very slow these days. In other words, tourism is not like before the revolution. Before, we used to get tired from busy work but now as you see it is very slow." 6. Wide of an empty boardwalk along the Nile river 7. Pan of exterior of bazaar that sells souvenirs in Luxor 8. Mid of empty souvenir shop 9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohamed Farouk, Boat owner: "The Ministry of Tourism used to help us to attract tourists. It was the reason behind 75 percent of the rates of tourists by advertising abroad trips to Luxor, Aswan and the Oasis area and that used to give tourists the feeling that it is safe but now they no longer do that." 10. Mid of an empty coffee shop located on a boardwalk along the Nile river 11. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohamed Ahmed, Tour guide: "Tourists these days are afraid of walking alone in the streets. They walk with their tour guide, in groups or with security guards. If a tourist wants to visit Dandara (tourist site 60 kilometres (37 miles) away from Luxor by boat) he must take a body guard with him and the same thing applies on visiting Aswan. Nowadays, there is no safety." 12. Wide of a number of horse-drawn carriages parked on street 13. Close-up of three of the carriages 14. Wide of man swimming in pool at one of the hotels which used to be packed with tourists before the revolution 15. Close-up of empty chaise longues near the pool AP TELEVISION - (Iran material) NO BBC PERSIAN/NO VOA PERSIAN/NO MANOTO 1 Tehran, Iran 16. Various of Hisham Zaazou, Egypt's tourism minister, arriving at Iran's Cultural Heritage organisation and greeting officials 17. Zaazou walking to podium 18. SOUNDBITE (English) Hisham Zaazou, Egypt's Tourism Minister: "This is the first time that this incident (balloon crash) is taking place so the authorities in Egypt are going through deep analysis of the causes that resulted in this tragic accident and we are doing our utmost (to see) if there is a specific cause to take care that it doesn't re-occur again in the future. But I do not think this specific incident will have any negative effect on the operation in the medium to longer term." 19. Wide of Zaazou and Malekzadeh exchanging folders, shaking hands STORYLINE: The Luxor balloon tragedy raised concerns of another blow to the Egypt's vital tourism industry, decimated by two years of unrest since the 2011 revolution that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The southern city of Luxor has been hit hard, with vacant hotel rooms and empty cruise ships. 19 people were killed on Tuesday in what appeared to be the deadliest hot air ballooning accident on record. A British tourist and the Egyptian pilot, who was badly burned, were the sole survivors. The crash added to the woes for residents of Luxor. Scared off by the turmoil and tenuous security following the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to 8.8 billion US dollars. Last year saw a slight rise, but most tourists go to the beach resorts of the Red Sea, staying away from Nile Valley sites like Luxor. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9998caf9f49bfb2736d271db15c41286 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork