In the first eight months of 2015, 728,942 British travelers visited Egypt. The same period of 2016 saw only 172,018 such visitors, a 70 percent decrease.
Why such a precipitous drop, especially when visiting Egypt is something of a British tradition?
Because on October 31, 2015, a Russian airliner blew up, killing 224 people. Suspected to be a terrorist action, the flight was headed for the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, a hotspot on the Red Sea for travelers, especially from the UK. Since then, the British government has banned all direct flights to the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, which has had a steep, negative impact on the travel industry in both countries.
It’s still possible to get to Sharm el-Sheikh; it’s just a great deal more complicated than it was. It requires multiple flights or a ferry from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
However, British travelers are confused because they’re under the impression that they can’t visit Egypt at all. With so few people traveling there now, some 80 hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh are said to have closed down, which is no doubt having a devastating effect on the local economy.
A number of companies have formed an organization specifically to help the Egyptian embassy get the British government to lift the ban, the only one remaining outside of Russia.
They think that the travel ban has gone from safety concern to simple fear, and cite improved security in the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, and the lifting of bans by other countries in Europe, as proof that it’s safe to offer direct flights there again.
“We have been led to understand that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Transport are all now happy with the measures put in place following stringent security reviews,” says Rasha Azaizi, director of the Egyptian State Tourist Office in London.
But yet, travel from England remains banned.
Independent UK airline group Monarch recently announced that because the ban has not yet been lifted, it is cancelling all flights to and holiday bookings in Sharm el-Sheikh for the 2016-17 tourist season, and possibly for the foreseeable future if the ban doesn’t get lifted before summer of 2017.
Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield says, “Much hard work has been done … to improve safety measures at Sharm el-Sheikh airport and it is very disappointing that it remains closed. If and when the airport does reopen then we will assess whether we start flights and holidays again.”