Tourists stay away from North African trouble spots

Airports in North Africa saw passenger volumes plummet in February due to the unrest.

Passenger numbers in Egypt fell 54 per cent in February as the unrest in affected tourism.

North African airports were battered by the regional unrest in February, with traffic volumes falling as much as 70 per cent in some places.

There were drastic reductions in Cairo, where passenger numbers fell 54 per cent compared with February 2009; Tunis, which dropped 31 per cent; and the Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheikh, which fell 71 per cent, according to data from Airports Council International (ACI).

The data show the damage to regional trade and tourism. Bahrain's passenger figures dropped by 15 per cent, with Turkey and Spain benefiting from regional turmoil as tourists rerouted holidays to destinations including Antalya and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, ACI said.

"The impact of the social and political crisis in North Africa on overall global traffic growth is limited," said Andreas Schimm, the ACI economics director.

"Yet for the individual airports that were accustomed to rapid growth, it represents a very severe situation as both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues plunge."

Despite the declines, the Middle East region overall continued to outpace the growth of North American airports.

Volumes grew by 5.4 per cent in February, ahead of North America's 2.8 per cent. Asia Pacific, the world's largest travel market, grew by 5.2 per cent. Europe, the second-biggest, rose by 5.6 per cent.

The Gulf's largest air hubs were last week awarded accolades from Skytrax, an independent UK survey company, indicating the investment GCC governments have made on improvements to boost the competitiveness of their flag carriers in the lucrative long-haul premium travel market.

Dubai International Airport won best airport in the Middle East, while Abu Dhabi International Airport and Bahrain International Airport took second and third.

"We have risen to number four on the world's busiest airports for international traffic with 47.2 million passengers in 2010, and it's heartening to see that we have managed to enhance our customer service even as the airport continues to grow," said Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of the Dubai airport.

Doha International Airport, particularly Qatar Airways's first and business-class terminal, beat Frankfurt Airport's first-class terminal for Lufthansa to be named best premium service airport. Etihad Airways' premium check-in at Abu Dhabi airport was third.

Skytrax is considered the most objective airline and airport award. Its World Airport Awards was this year based on more than 11 million survey questionnaires completed by 100 nationalities among airline passengers, covering more than 240 airports worldwide.

The survey evaluates traveller experiences across 39 airport service and product factors - from check-in, arrivals and transfers through to departure at the gates.

Overall winners for this year's survey were all in Asia, with Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul's airports taking the top three spots.