MOSCOW, November 22 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia’s tour operators have no plans for revising their Egypt programs in view of a fresh spate of demonstrations in that country, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia has told Itar-Tass.
“The ongoing fierce clashes that have taken place in that country have not affected tour operators’ plans for the time being,” the Association said.
The company Pegas Touristic has said that “the sales of tours to Egyptian resorts are only slightly below last year’s and those to some expensive hotels have grown.” This tour operator has no intention of reducing Egypt-bound-traffic of holiday-makers and it continues to send full flights from 29 cities of Russia to Sharm-el-Sheikh and Hurghada.
However, Pegas Touristic General Director Ana Podgornaya has not ruled out some inter-city flights may be postponed, of need be. She added, though, that this would cause an insignificant effect on the overall flow of holiday-makers.
“Of course, contingencies are possible, in particular, in case of some incidents,” she added.
Coral Travel says that the situation is generally worse than last year. The decline is approximately 40 percent. However, this company does not plan to cancel flights or adjust its programs. It expects a certain increase in demand for holidays at Egyptian resorts for the New Year Holidays, starting from December 25.
Tez Tour said the flow of tourists it was sending these days is 40 percent down, but this tour operator has no intention of cancelling flights altogether.
The spokesman for the federal tourist agency Rosturizm, Oleg Moiseyev, has said that Russian holiday-makers have had no unrest-related problems at Red Sea resorts.
“The situation at the country’s resorts is stable and calm, there have been no problems for our tourists due to demonstrations, and tourists continue to enjoy themselves as usual,” he said, adding that for security reasons tourists are advised against going out of the resort areas.
The executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Maya Lomidze, has confirmed to Itar-Tass that “there have been no clashes or protest actions inside the resort areas.”
“Within the resort areas there are no risks for the holiday-makers,” she said, adding that there have been no disrupted tours to Egypt or canceled reservations.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry voiced concern over the developments in Egypt and confirmed its recommendation to Russian tourists in Egypt to avoid venturing into areas of mass protest actions and demonstrations, and to those who have arrived in that country for recreation to refrain from trips outside the resort areas.
“The events in friendly Egypt cause concern,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “Over the past few days Cairo, Alexandria and some other major cities in Egypt have seen mass protest actions and clashes between demonstrators and police. According to the arriving reports, there have been hundreds of casualties and some fatalities.”