Tourists carry their belongings as they leave a hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. (Reuters)

Additional Reporting By Hamdy Al-Husseini, IOL Staff

CAIRO, July 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The multiple bombings that devastated Egypt’s largest Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday, July 23, and killed at least 88 people are expected to deal a blow to the vital tourism industry in the country, though officials hope that it would be a short-term impact.

"The blasts, no doubt, would exact its toll on the luxury hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh given that in July the tourist season starts gaining pace until it peaks in September," a tour guide, who requested anonymity, told IslamOnline.net.

He said the season at this time of the year depends mainly on Arab tourists, while the picturesque resort is a favorite destination for westerners in winter.

The guide said dozens of shell-shocked holidaymakers started packing their luggage to return home.

"Hotel officials told me that European travelers have cancelled reservations, including the European leading tour operator TUI, which has already sent 1600 tourists to the popular destination," he added.

Italian charter planes to Sharm flew out of Rome nearly empty on Saturday morning, according to Reuters.

Saturday's first flight from Amsterdam to Sharm had further 12 cancellations, Dutch news agency ANP reported.

Sweden and Denmark told travelers to cancel any planned trips to the Sinai peninsula while British tour groups organized special evacuation flights for Britons stranded in Sharm.

Italians, up to one million of whom visited Sharm last year, were being advised by the Foreign Ministry to steer clear of the Red Sea resort.

Analysts maintain that the most damaging to the crucial tourism sector is the succession of attacks targeting tourist sites.

Saturday's attacks came only eight months after triple bombings on two other popular Sinai resorts killed at least 34.

Short-Term Effect

Minister Maghrabi expected the blasts to have a short-term impact on tourism.

The tour guide, however, expected the bombings impact to be short-lived, ruling out a domino effect on other tourist destinations across the country.

"Travel agents usually market tourist trips to the Sinai beach resorts without including other attractions across Egypt and the other way around," he said.

The guide also spoke of "an immunity" developed by some tourists, especially with attacks targeting tourists in most world countries.

"It seems as if tourists had become immune from the psychological effects of such frequent attacks and are resolved not to give in to terrorists," he argued.

Backing his argument, he said the tourist sector quickly picked pace after the October bombings in Taba and Nuweiba.

Ali Negm, the Egyptian Tourism Ministry undersecretary, sought to reassure panicked tour operators, playing down fears of a recession like that which followed the 1997 grisly attacks in the southern city of Luxor .

"No body has officially cancelled trips or reservations, but of course we can understand the blow dealt to the tourist season which is at its peak following months of heavy marketing and given last year’s impressive revenues," he told IOL.

"Tourists are adapting now with terrorist operations, which have become an epidemic sweeping the entire world and even in major countries like the US and Britain," added the official.

He argued that in the past tourists were quick to cancel reservations in the aftermath of any terrorist operation, but the behavior has changed now.

Earlier, Tourism Minister Ahmed El-Maghrabi said the blasts would have a short-term impact on the tourism industry.

General Mohammad Zamzam, who heads the Egyptian airport authority, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that more than 6,000 tourists had flown to Sharm El-Sheikh Saturday despite the deadly blasts.

Some tourists vowed to go ahead with their holidays, saying they could not avoid terrorism wherever they were.

South African Belinda Murphy, who narrowly avoided a lethal bomb attack on London 's underground railway two weeks ago, was offered an early ticket back to London but turned it down.

"It's happened at home. It's happened here. I don't feel any more scared because of this. I just have to be aware," she told Reuters.

Spaniard Rafael Moyano said he would complete his holiday as planned with a trip to  Luxor next week.

"There were bombs in London and Madrid . That's life now," he said.

There were similar reactions from some yet to arrive.

Roman Claudio Ricci, waiting in a queue at Fiumicino, said he, his wife and 6-year-old son would be going ahead.

"What are we supposed to do now, change again? No, I won't do it, I won't be a plaything for terrorists," he said.

Sharm El-Sheikh has grown into an internationally-renowned holiday spot and is now the flagship of the national tourism industry -- a key foreign currency earner.

Tourism, which is also the country's biggest private sector employer, has helped boost the ailing Egyptian economy with hotel room capacity increasing from 52,000 in 1992 to 144,000 in 2005 in addition to 100,000 rooms under construction.

In 2004, the sector’s revenues reached a record 6.6 billion US dollars with an increase of 34.1% compared to the previous year.