Airlines say bookings have stopped: War in the Middle East disturbs passengers heading to Egypt

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If you can’t get enough of summer in autumn, you can extend the hot season in Egypt. It’s no surprise that the country bordering the Central and Red Seas is popular as a holiday destination. Edelweiss airline alone carried approximately 71 percent more passengers to Egypt in the summer of 2023 than before the corona epidemic. Travel company Hotelplan also reported a strong increase in bookings in Egypt since 2019.

But now the terrorist attack by Hamas and the counter-attack by Israel are causing uncertainty among North African tourists: Can a trip to Egypt, which shares a border with the Gaza Strip and Israel, be made despite the conflicts? Is the war felt there? “The insecure security situation may affect Egypt’s border area with Israel in the Sinai and the occupied Palestinian territories,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA) writes on its website. FDFA recommends against travel to the northern Sinai Peninsula; There is also a “risk of terrorist activity” in the south, where the well-known holiday destinations of Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh are located. And a week earlier, on October 26 and 27, two “unidentified drones” crashed in the southern Sinai Peninsula. One of them landed at Taba, at the Israeli border crossing, and the other landed in Nuweiba, a port city about 70 kilometers to the south.

3 percent of trips were canceled

Upon SonntagsBlick’s question, it turned out that tourists were hesitant about traveling to the country in the Middle East. Hotelplan said: “Immediately after October 7, we received an increasing number of questions about the current situation in Israel and the possible impact on other destinations.” Three per cent of trips to Egypt have been canceled and overall demand is now “slightly lower” than last year.

The company ITS Coop Travel reports something similar: 33 trips have been canceled since October 9; 29 of these were scheduled to leave this year, with four more scheduled to begin in 2024. The number of reservations made since October 9 has also increased. significantly lower than in the previous year. ITS Coop Travel media spokesperson Andi Restle said: “We must assume that this trend will continue if the situation does not change. The reservation level for December and January is approximately 20 percent below the previous year.

Short-term decline in bookings

Edelweiss airline flies to four destinations in Egypt: Luxor, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Sharm El Sheikh. According to information received from the airline, some short-term cancellations occurred and reservations were stopped immediately after Hamas’ attacks on Israeli territory. Sandalye Airlines also carries passengers to these destinations. Their conclusion: “Since the events in Israel began, we have seen a significant decrease in bookings compared to the previous year.”

Source :Blick