On The Deck: Stephen Banks

With the release of the Passenger Shipping Association’s cruising figures last week, one thing stood out above all else – river cruising is undergoing a boom. At the heart of that has been the return of one of most sectors most important waterways. The Nile is back. And, truth be told, it comes as little surprise. Egypt is, after all, a marquee destination. Its sites are on most people’s bucket lists and Nile cruising has been a hugely successful venture for British travel agents over the years. But what does the current climate mean for Egyptian operators? There’s no denying that the sector has still not hit pre-Spring levels – yet things are looking up. We spoke to Stephen Banks, director of sales and marketing at Moevenpick, the Nile’s biggest branded operator, to find out more.

After everything that’s gone on within the region, how have the last 12 months been for Moevenpick specifically?

Things have gone very well for us because we’ve more than doubled our Nile capacity. We’re now the biggest branded presence on the Nile. There are a huge amount of ships on the river – around 600 in total – so that’s a big achievement. We took on five ships last year, three are conventional at around 60 cabins but two are very unusual. One is over 100 years old and used to be a Royal Navy steam tug and was transformed into King Farouk’s Royal Barge. It’s now a cruise ship with only 24 cabins. The other is a four berth Feddya – a traditional sailing boat. It’s only 60 foot long, with two masts and a sail at either and capacity for eight people.  There’s no menu – the chef will get produce from local markets and simply cook to order.

So there hasn’t been much of a problem after the Arab Spring?

Not to the extent that you’d think. We’ve also got the Hamees which is a vessel with a very shallow draft so it’s able to do the long cruises. This is something we’ve had a lot of interest in and has been doing very well.  It’s a 14-day cruise that starts in Cairo and goes all the way through. As far as I know that’s an itinerary which hasn’t operated in at least 10 years. So exactly the opposite you’d think would be the case given the geo-political context.

Yes, there’s no way you can’t say otherwise. In general Egypt always bounces back. When these things do tend to happen there’s a period where pick-up is slow and it increases after that. The Red Sea is much less affected and is running at about 60/65% capacity which is a very good occupancy. Downtown Cairo – where we don’t have hotels – is struggling a lot because people associate those areas with the protests. We’ve got two properties – one by a film studios and one by the Pyramids – that are both less affected.

How has 2012 been for Moevenpick?

Not bad. If you look right back to 2010, that was an absolute boom year for us. And 2011 – the year of the revolution – was looking to be even better. In January it was going even higher than 2010 and then dropped. As a portfolio of hotels we were 34% down and 2012 was 20% up 2011. We’re not at 2010 levels yet and right now it’s looking like 2013 will be about the same.

Have you needed to educate your markets as to how safe Egypt is?

We will always try. We work with major partners like Thomas Cook and TUI because we’re all in this together. Egypt is a very important destination. It’s much the same with Tunisia although interestingly our hotels in Turkey and Dubai have definitely benefited. With the tour operators we are working to offer deals constantly but running parallel to that is the economic situation in Europe – our biggest source market.

How did you come to own the Misr, King Farouk’s royal barge?

We don’t own any of our ships – we’re a management company. We were introduced to the owner who was mainly doing business with the UK market and he came to us because he wanted to expand. He wanted German, French and Spanish business and we’ve got the network to cover that. We haven’t changed them in any shape or form – just some branding.

What challenges are there in operating on the Nile? 

In some ways the challenges are less evident – there are less ships operating on the river now so the competition is certainly less fierce and it’s a nicer experience. The first time I went on I was surprised at how congested the river was. Two or three years ago there were 600 ships on the river – now that’s not the case. It’s probably running at 35% capacity now.

What’s next for Moevenpick on the Nile?

We hope that the situation stabilises and bookings come back. This summer will be the one where we’ll be able to tell because of the longer cruise. It has proved so popular that we’re adding capacity and are looking to promote it via that and look to get people back.