Agents call for Egypt airfares to be slashed
Agents are calling on airlines to cut the cost of flights to Egypt to encourage more holidaymakers to book.
Tourism to Egypt has been badly hit by on-going political clashes in the country, but agents say it won’t have a chance to recover if prices remain high.
They claim flights to Egypt – which are only around five hours long – cost more than flights to long haul destinations like Mexico and the Bahamas.
Online and retail agents voiced their concerns to TravelMole during a Youtravel.com fam trip to promote less visited parts of Egypt.
During the six-day visit, 16 agents experienced Luxor, a Nile Cruise, and the upmarket private town of El Gouna, 22km from Hurghada airport.
Tina Benbow from Very Cheap Holidays said: "If they dropped the flight prices for a limited period, it could help to bring people back. For a family of four you can get great deals on the accommodation but most of the price is the flights."
Colin Fisher from On the Beach said: "The flights are very expensive and it comes down to price in the end. But the hotels are cheap, it offers guaranteed temperatures and the service is awesome – you won’t get the same service in Spain.
"Demand has tailed off. People are still a bit scared. They forget how big the country is and the distances involved."
But airlines denied that prices were too high.
EasyJet, which flies from Manchester, Luton, Stansted and Gatwick to Sharm and Gatwick to Hurghada, said on average its fares were lower than last year’s.
A spokesman said: "Because of the greater value on offer from our flights and accommodation in Egypt we have continued to see strong demand for flights to Egypt from the UK with load factors in excess of 90%."
Monarch said that customers need to book early to get the best price prices. The airline flies from Manchester, Gatwick, Luton and Birmingham to Sharm El Sheikh and has just launched flights from Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick to Hurghada.
A spokesman said: "Egypt is one of our longer sectors so will be more expensive than shorter segments like Spain and Italy and we are confident our pricing remains competitive."
According to the latest statistics, the number of tourists visiting Egypt fell by 17.9% from 11.5 million in 2012 to 9.5 million in 2013. By comparison, Egypt welcomed 14.7 million tourists in 2010.
** Do you think flight costs to Egypt are prohibitive? What do you think would help Egyptian tourism recover? Post your comment below.
Diane
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