10/02/2013
Since Wednesday, October 2, the tour operator TUI Russia has resumed the sale of tours to Egypt to the resorts of Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. As the correspondent of the TURPROM information group was told in the press service of the tour operator, such a decision is logical after an inspection trip of representatives of the tourism industry to Egypt, during which experts were convinced of the safety of rest in the resorts of the Red Sea.
“This week we returned from an inspection trip to Egypt. The situation in the country is stabilizing, and the authorities do not lose control over the quality of services in the tourism sector. The country as a whole is ready to receive massive Russian tourists. Therefore, we hope that in the near future the Russian Foreign Ministry will cancel its recommendations for our compatriots, ”said the head of Rostourism Alexander Radkov.
Moreover, the first flights of TUI Russia from Moscow will be performed on October 15 and 18 to Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh, respectively. A further departure frequency is three flights per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
From October 17, St. Petersburg will operate two flights a week, on Thursdays and Sundays to Hurghada; and from October 19, two days a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Sharm El Sheikh. The restoration of the volume of the flight program to Egypt will be carried out in stages, in accordance with the growth of customer demand and the stabilization of the commercial component.
“The safety of tourists is the absolute priority of TUI. Based on the current situation, the TUI office in Egypt quickly decides on the possibility of conducting excursions. Currently, excursions to Cairo and Luxor have not been resumed. The TUI representative office in Egypt is monitoring the situation and will provide tourists with quality rest, ”the press service of the company said. We add that the German TUI announced the resumption of its programs to the resorts of Egypt a week ago (read the details in the material https://www.tourprom.ru/news/22490/).
It should be noted that the situation with Egypt has remained in limbo for a month and a half, since neither Rosturizm, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally «banned» the direction, confining themselves only to recommendations to tourists «not to go there», and to travel agencies — «not to send there.» As a result, the vast majority of tour operators in August curtailed their programs to Egypt. And now, without waiting for the official go-ahead, but against the background of the positive report of the Rostourism inspectors who visited the hotels in Hurghada and the hotels of Sharm El Sheikh, tour operators are massively beginning to resume sales of tours to the Land of the Pyramids. Everyone understands that there is simply no alternative to Egyptian resorts in the autumn-winter season on the Russian tourist market: only a vacation in Egypt has such advantages as a low price, not a very long flight, a developed hotel base with many international brands and the «all inclusive» system, as well as sandy beaches coupled with the always warm sea and many coral reefs.
At the same time, the official «blessing» of the authorities also remains a little longer — most likely by the end of the month it will be received by tour operators. Later, the tourist authorities of Russia decided to take a short time-out in order to suppress the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism on additional security guarantees for our compatriots. This was announced last Sunday by the deputy of Rostourism Dmitry Amunts, explaining that his department expects the removal of the «recommendations» only by the beginning of November 2013. The representative of Rostourism said that the Egyptian authorities are interested in returning tourists from Russia to the resorts and are ready to offer certain guarantees, which will be considered in October. “They ensure everything in the security mode, but we are waiting for certain guarantees at the state level about the safety of our tourists,” said Dmitry Amunts.
By the way, in order to quickly return Russian tourists, the Egyptian authorities decided to stimulate tour operators, taking on part of their commercial risks for filling the charters. “We will financially support tour operators in the event that they cannot fully fill the announced flights. For this, Egypt will be ready to pay for unsold seats, and the fewer such unsold seats on the planes, the more we will pay for them, ”said Hisham Zaazou, Egyptian Minister of Tourism, during the 2013 Leisure Exhibition. It will stimulate the Ministry of Tourism and regular flights, reducing the cost of their service at airports. And in order to attract the tourists themselves to Egypt, the ministry is now developing a plan for a large-scale advertising campaign to be held in Russia this fall.
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