WTM London 2019: Brits invited to sample improved Sharm experience
James ChappleTime has not stood still in the four years British tourists have tacitly been banned from visiting Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt’s tourism chief in the UK has told TTG at WTM London.
Brits will enjoy a marked improvement in holiday experience when they begin returning to Sharm over the coming months according to Amr el Ezabi, director UK and Ireland of the Egyptian State Tourist Office.
El Ezabi said that while the tourist authority was always expecting movement on Sharm in respect of the UK, the speed at which the Foreign Office eventually came to a resolution took him by surprise.
“I’m very happy, I thought it would be further down the line,” said el Ezabi. “Sharm is ready. It has diversified and attracted new markets – eastern Europe and the Gulf states in particular.
“Time hasn’t stood still. There are lots of new things in Sharm, the new hotels are of a higher standard. There’s been a lot of movement. Yes, investment plans went slower, but they were still going.
“Sharm has attracted high-quality investment; once you arrive at that level, the new hotels can’t go in below that standard so Sharm is just going higher and higher.”
British tourists will begin to return to Sharm in a matter of weeks. The first Red Sea Holidays charter flights will get under way in mid-December, while Tui’s programme will resume next February.
However, El Ezabi said while he welcomed pledges by British operators, the immediate issue would be flight capacity and whether it is sufficient to meet demand. “We’re confident that at the beginning of next year, the movement will be quite fast,” he said. “Everything depends on the flights; if there is demand, there will be more flights.
“We’re speaking to our partners from before the ban, we’re not currently speaking to anyone new. We met Tui and easyJet for this reason. I’m confident Tui will be able to scale things up quickly.”
Of easyJet, and its soon-to-launch tour operation easyJet Holidays, el Ezabi said: “They are very serious, both with the airline and the holidays project.”
El Ezabi added that while no discussions have yet taken place with Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, he would “of course” welcome interest from Jet2 in Egypt.
Speaking at a reception on Monday evening (4 November) hosted by Tarek Adel, the Egyptian ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland, Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Egyptian minister of tourism, said the FCO’s decision to lift its ban on direct flights to the Red Sea resort followed “detailed coordination” over several years between the two countries’ respective governments in an effort not to “jeopardise the safety” of returning British tourists.
She said Egypt had this year achieved the highest level of tourism revenue in its history, $12.6 billion, and stressed this came before the return of British tourists to Sharm. The country’s long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, meanwhile, is now scheduled to open in Q4 2020.
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