The biggest change to Hurghada's tourist scene in the last decade has been the huge influx of Russian tourists . Their arrival in 1994 was greeted with joy by hoteliers, whose occupancy rates had plummeted following terrorist attacks in the Nile Valley. Being inured to chaos and inflation back home, the Russians weren't deterred by bomb scares and proved to be big spenders. Sadly, however, cultural differences soon soured things, and many locals now regard them all as drunks or whores, while the Russians reciprocate with equal contempt. It doesn't help that some of the Russians really are mafiosi or prostitutes (the latter ply their trade in hotels as "personal assistants") - nor that the Egyptians are irked by the lack of a common language in which to hustle them.

 

Aside from filling up the holiday villages, the Russians haven't had much effect on other tourists - except perhaps for the bewilderment when they first see restaurant signs advertising borsch and pelmeni. As the Russians generally have little interest in diving (being content to make descents in the Sindbad Submarine, or snorkelling trips to Giftun Island), not much mixing occurs, except in Hurghada's discos.