As violence prompts European travel companies to cancel Egypt holidays en masse, Maltese tour operators are largely unaffected as their clients have been wary of the destination for several years.
“People are afraid to visit Egypt. For most of our customers it is not even an option,” said Sullivan & Sullivan marketing director Rueben Vella Bray. Sullivan & Sullivan advertises Egypt tours in its brochures but does not have any bookings confirmed to the strife-ridden country.
If someone enquired we would not advise them to travel to Egypt for a holiday at the moment
Mr Vella Bray said that bookings to Egypt have never recovered since the uprising against dictator Hosni Mubarak in January 2011.
The country has struggled to build a functioning democracy in the wake of Mubarak’s resignation in February 2011.
An interim military-led government seized power in July amid widespread protests against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood.
The security forces have since led a bloody crackdown against the Brotherhood’s Islamist supporters, with an estimated 900 people killed in the past week.
Sullivan & Sullivan receive queries about Egypt from time to time but no clients actually booked.
Asked what advice he would give if a client wanted to holiday in Egypt at the moment, Mr Vella Bray said: “It is risky to say they would be safe. I would remind them what is happening there, explain all the possibilities, and check out insurance options. But if they still wanted to go we would not be able to stop them.”
He added clients may have problems finding a company willing to insure them.
Gasan Mamo declined to comment yesterday but Middlesea Insurance said it would still insure clients travelling to Egypt.
However, it pointed out that, according to its terms and conditions, it would not cover losses or damages resulting from “civil commotion” and other similar occurrences.
German tour operators TUI and Thomas Cook said on Friday they were cancelling all trips to Egypt until mid-September, after the German Foreign Office advised against travel to the entire country.
The Maltese Foreign Affairs Ministry warned on Friday against all but essential travel to Egypt, except to Red Sea resorts in South Sinai and those resorts on the Egyptian mainland in the Red Sea governorate.
Tristar Travel also advertises holidays in Egypt but managing director Mark Anastasi agreed with Sullivan & Sullivan that bookings dried up in 2011 and had not recovered.
“We don’t have tourists there. If someone enquired we would not advise them to travel to Egypt for a holiday at the moment,” Mr Anastasi said, although he pointed out that the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh was still considered safe by many Western governments.
The British Government, among others, is not advising against the use of Cairo airport as a transit stop, providing passengers do not leave the airport grounds.
EU Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels today to discuss how to handle the situation in Egypt.
A Foreign Affairs spokesman said Malta would be represented by its Ambassador to the EU, Marlene Bonnici.
No Maltese were known to have been caught up in the violence in Egypt to date, the spokesman added.