ECA warns of predatory pricing practices in tourism industry: The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) has found evidence of predatory pricing in the tourism industry, outgoing ECA boss Mona El Garf said in a statement on Monday (sorry folks, no link: the page in question is down at dispatch time). These practices include setting prices for hotel rooms that are below the costs of operation, the statement added. In light of these practices, the ECA is working with the Tourism Ministry to help set about antitrust regulations for the industry, said El Garf. However, she added that moving to set a minimum charge for hotel rooms would violate the Competition Protection Act. She did acknowledge, however, that it is within the purview of the Prime Minister to set a price for a “strategic” and basic good for a limited period of time, though she did not mention whether tourism would fall under that category. El Garf did not name a particular company or industry segment that had perpetrated the alleged violations. Local tourism operators, who had been lobbying for setting minimum prices at hotels, have complained to the ECA that foreign companies had been undercutting them and plan to file a formal complaint sometime next week.

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