Tourist arrivals plunged 38% Y-o-Y in November to 558,000, the official statistics agency CAPMAS reported on Monday. In parallel, the nights spent fell 52% Y-o-Y to 5 million nights. The numbers are the first since the crash of the Russian airplane in October, providing the clue of the extent of hit facing the ailing sector. Calculating based on tourist spending of 3Q2015, tourism revenues should have declined 51% Y-o-Y in November to USD358 million. There is obviously downside risk to this number as hotel operators may have slashed prices to attract clients. The pattern shown in November’s figures is in line with our recently revised expectation of a 22% Y-o-Y decline in tourism revenues in FY2015/16 to USD5.8 billion. (Mohamed Abou Basha, CAPMAS)