Could a tourism ‘peace dividend’ follow the Middle East ceasefire between Israel and Gaza?
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Exclusive: ‘We’ve had last-minute bookings for people to go next week,’ said Philip Breckner of Discover Egypt. The prospect of peace after 15 months of bloodshed and tens of thousands of deaths has already led to a major budget airline reinstating flights from London to both Tel Aviv in Israel and Amman in neighbouring Jordan. Wizz Air has resumed links to both cities, with Amman flights using airspace in northern Israel.
At the same time, bookings to Egypt are surging. Philip Breckner, director of Discover Egypt, said: “I see an upturn, yes. There’s quite a few people saying, ‘We spoke to you last September and October, we made an inquiry, but we weren’t ready to book because of the ongoing situation, but now we would like to go’.
“They’re booking [Nile] cruises, Cairo, Alexandria, everything, Red Sea. It’s all booking. “We’ve had last-minute bookings for people to go next week and in February and March, and we have the availability.”. Christmas and New Year were very busy in Egypt, with Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian tourists filling many of the Red Sea hotels.
Mr Breckner, who has been in the travel industry for 35 years, said: “The ultimate trip would be combining Egypt, Israel and Jordan. If there is a lasting peace, that certainly will build up and flights will start up again between Egypt and Israel.”.
