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14 Aug 2013

Red Sea keeps drawing tourists despite Egypt’s turmoil

The Foreign Office advises against travel to Egypt except to its famous Red Sea beach resorts, where 40,000 British tourists are still enjoying sun, sea and sand.

Sea bathers at one of Egypt's Red Sea resorts

Dozens of people have died in Cairo in violent clashes and Egypt has now declared a month-long state of emergency, but thousands of Britons are still lapping up searing temperatures approaching 40 celsius as the Red Sea resorts hit their peak season.

The Association of British Travel Agents said there were about 40,000 British tourists in Egypt, predominantly at the Red sea resorts – roughly double the number a month ago. Thomson travel agents said they currently have 11,769 customers in Egypt’s Red Sea resorts Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Taba and Marsa Alam, up from about 9,000 a month ago. The resort of Hurghada is closest to Cairo at just over 200 miles away.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “deeply concerned” at the escalating violence and expressed at the loss of life on all sides. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has warned tourists against all travel to North Sinai “due to the significant increase in criminal activity and recent terrorist attacks on police and security forces that have resulted in deaths”.

The FCO said other demonstrations have taken place in Alexandria, Hurghada and Luxor, “some of which have turned violent”, and it expected more elsewhere. It advised Britons to avoid all demonstrations and large gatherings due to a “serious risk of violence and sexual assault”.

The political arm of President Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed that more than 500 protesters were killed in Cairo demonstrations and about 9,000 wounded in the two camps on opposite ends of the city, but there was no official confirmation of these claims.

Mohammed el-Beltagy, a senior Brotherhood leader, put the death toll at more than 300, before he was arrested by government forces. Later unconfirmed reports claimed that his daughter had been shot dead during the violence.

More than 300 people have already died in political violence since the army overthrew President Morsi on July 3, including dozens of his supporters killed by security forces in two separate earlier incidents. Dozens of people have died in Cairo in violent clashes and the country has now declared a month-long state of emergency, but thousands of Britons are still lapping up searing temperatures approaching 40 celsius as the Egyptian Red Sea resorts hit their peak season.

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said there were about 40,000 British tourists in Egypt, predominantly at the Red sea resorts – roughly double the number a month ago.

Thomson travel agents said they currently have 11,769 customers in Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Taba and Marsa Alam, up from about 9,000 a month ago. The resort of Hurghada is closest to Cairo at just over 200 miles away.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said other demonstrations have taken place in Alexandria, Hurghada and Luxor, “some of which have turned violent”, and it expected more elsewhere. It advised Britons to avoid all demonstrations and large gatherings due to a “serious risk of violence and sexual assault”.

Holiday company Kuoni tweeted that they were monitoring the situation, but as yet there had been no impact on Red Sea resorts.

Foreign secretary William Hague said he was “deeply concerned” at the escalating violence and expressed regret at the loss of life on all sides.

Warning

The FCO has warned tourists against all travel to North Sinai “due to the significant increase in criminal activity and recent terrorist attacks on police and security forces that have resulted in deaths”.

The Egyptian Health Ministry said on Wednesday that 149 people had been killed and over 874 injured in the violence.

However, the political arm of President Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed that more than 500 protesters were killed in Cairo demonstrations and about 9,000 wounded in the two camps on opposite ends of the city.

Mohammed el-Beltagy, a senior Brotherhood leader, put the death toll at more than 300, before he was arrested by government forces. Later unconfirmed reports claimed that his daughter had been shot dead during the violence.

More than 300 people have already died in political violence since the army overthrew President Morsi on 3 July, including dozens of his supporters killed by security forces in two separate earlier incidents.