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"…he has to bear the consequences," said Minister Garranah. (Photo through Google) |
CAIRO — Egyptian authorities are threatening to punish Cairo's luxury Grand Hyatt hotel of its five-star status if its Saudi owner sticks to his refusal to serve alcohol.
"July 2 has been set as the deadline," Fathi Nur, president of the Egyptian Hotel Association, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, June 17.
"If he keeps it up, the hotel will be dropped down to two stars and its rates will reflect that."
Last month, Abdulaziz al-Brahim, a member of the Saudi royal family and owner of the coveted luxury property that sits on a tongue of land at the edge of the Nile, decided to get rid of all the alcohol in stock.
He ordered the 2,500 bottles of alcoholic beverages at the hotel to be flushed down the toilets.
"300,000 dollars went into the sewers after this decision which totally violates Egypt's hotel rules," said Nur, who met the Saudi sheikh last week.
Islam prohibits any beverage that get people intoxicated, both in small and large quantities, whether it is alcohol, drugs, or something else.
But for authorities in Egypt, where drinking alcohol is not banned by law, religion must stop at the doorstep of touristic establishments.
Hotel rules dictate that any hotel above two stars must serve alcohol.
Egypt's tourism industry, which handled 11.1 million tourists last year, employs 12 percent of the active population and accounts for 11.6 percent of the country's Gross National Product.
The lucrative industry brings in 20 percent of foreign currency receipts.
"If he doesn't want to serve alcohol, it's his choice. If that doesn't comply with our regulations, he has to bear the consequences," said Tourism Minister Zoheir Garranah.
Welcomed
The Saudi owner is currently in talks with American hotel chain managing the property, Hyatt International, whose headquarters are in Chicago.
"We're negotiating now," Grand Hyatt spokeswoman Sally Khattab told AFP.
"Talks will last two or three weeks."
An owner is also not allowed to interfere in the running of affairs when there is a managing company.
"It's like imposing chicken on the menu," said Nur, who owns the prestigious Nile Hilton hotel in central Cairo.
But despite the official opposition, Egyptian scholars have welcomed the ban of alcohol at such a popular destination.
"The decision is very good because at least it allows for the choice of an Islamic hotel," says Sheikh Abdel Baqi of the Islamic Research Academy at Al-Azhar University, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world.
The Grand Hyatt occupies one of the most expensive sites overlooking the River Nile.
It is only minutes from the diplomatic quarter, where the British and American embassies are located.
"It must be encouraged," Sheikh Abdel Baqi told AFP.
"Alcohol lowers man to the level of animal."
Three glasses of alcohol are enough to rob drinkers of their ability to respond to threats, US researchers from the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism concluded in the first study to show how alcohol affects the response of neuronal circuits to threats.
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