Hi all. The rep has spoken lolololol. Apparently there were loads of people at the meeting all wanting advice. The rep said that they were in no apparent danger, however, they should be extra vigilant on the streets of Sharm, especially women! If at all possible, people should not venture far from their hotel and should always be in groups.They should report anything unusual to either the rep, hotel or security. Apparently airport security has been stepped up and there is huge security on the streets of Sharm.

This is great advice from the rep; however, they are not telling us anything we dont already know appart from the atmosphere and tension is building here, and the reps are extremely busy with tourists wanting constant advice. If there's anything else thats worth mentioning it will be posted here. STILL WORRIED and still gota go on Tues

My thoughts are that It won't kick off in the Sharm area as it is almost totally reliant on tourism and the locals still need to line their pockets.
It'll be interesting, to say the least.

PARKY45 wrote:

My thoughts are that It won't kick off in the Sharm area as it is almost totally reliant on tourism and the locals still need to line their pockets.
It'll be interesting, to say the least.

?? and you don't think luxor only depended on tourists...

PARKY45 wrote:

My thoughts are that It won't kick off in the Sharm area as it is almost totally reliant on tourism and the locals still need to line their pockets.
It'll be interesting, to say the least.

I don't think 'the locals' in Sharm have a huge amount of influence over what is going on. As said Luxor was totally dependant on tourism and that hasn't made any difference. I know Sharm is 7 hours away by road but its only 45 mins on a plane. I keep wondering how long it can stay immune from all this.

Think a Sky Reporter had been shot and killed not a great reward for trying to bring us up to date news.

Not sure if I had put this link up before, but its quite a good site for news.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/

Seems like a state of emergency has now been called.

Luxor is a big place - or I thought so when we went to that area, previously a a tourist target area. Look at the number of properties demolished, so not completely reliant on tourists, but a large part is. I wouldn't trust any of them not to kick off, but just my thoughts.

Yes it's all very worrying, hard to know what the future is going to bring. The FCO hasn't changed its travel advisory on the Red Sea Resorts so I guess that is them saying that it is still safe to go provided you stay in resort.

Trouble is there are two elements to it from a tourists point of view, even if the FCO say its safe, if people just stop booking TO's will pull out of the destination as they won't fly with planes that are only a quarter full as it just isn't economic. They will put the planes on to routes where they can make money as that is the only sensible way to run their business.

Thomson already seem to have pulled their Luxor flights till the end of this year from what is being reported.

This is also a link that is worth reading. The starter of the thread is on HT's opposition but is often shouted down and cancelled out by the DE's (some of whom it is alleged have tourism related business interests in Cario ) because she tells it how it is, not how they would like it to appear. She is quite amusing, I love the thread title - so basic !

Some of the other posters are good value as well, obviously it's not a holiday forum, but its worth a read IMHO.

I know this is not a laughing situation and people are dying in their hundreds but I guess the locals need to keep their spirit up hence the comments about Bisto and Oxo.

Think the picture of the truck going over is distorting page 2 so you need to go back to page 1 to click on page 3

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/egypt-expat-forum-expats-living-egypt/174010-has-hit-fan.html

TUI and Thomas Cook have cancelled all German trips as per the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23730016

I would never only go by what the FCO say, for me it would be just one factor, I don't believe that because they say it is safe, that is necessarily the case, are they waiting for the first tourist death before they final change the advisory.

We always seem to be the last Country to pull out of any troubled holiday destination.

I may be cynical but I think a large part of this tardiness is because it causes financial stress on the UK holiday Company's and pressure on the destination Country meaning more instability.

IMHO that should not be the FCO's priority, the safety of its citizens should be.

How many MP's have shares or even interests in T.C's or TUI?
Would this info be given out if asked?

Doe
I also think that the FO advice will only change when it's too late.

Fiona wrote:

Doe
I also think that the FO advice will only change when it's too late.

Can't understand it Fi now Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Belgian Foreign Offices have stopped travel to Sharm and other Red Sea Resorts. I know many will not see any problems out there, loads of people go AI to Sharm and never leave the hotel for the fortnight, so under that scenario I guess little can go wrong, even a 7pm curfew won't affect them, although I think that has been lifted now.

But surely there are a few moral issues as well, somehow it doesn't seem right to holiday when 40 min plane ride away the Country appears to be on the brink of civil war. I reckon a lot of people who are booked and paid in full would jump at the chance to change destination if FCO change advice. Holidays are supposed to be relaxing and something to look forward to, not stress about. I can't see the pro Morsi and anti Morsi making peace in the near future either.

Sites in Luxor are being looted now as for some bizzare reason they have opened them again (maybe to give a look of normality to the world) which means if this ever calms down will there be anythings worth visiting. Most Americans and Australians visit Egypt for the culture not to go and sunbathe like Northern Europeans do. I read one report of 150 antiquities being taken from a site - surely they should be under guard. It's a massive part of their tourism probably even more important than the Red Sea resorts.

Doe

I understand that folks will have strong views if they love Egypt and will go to show support for the Egyptians who just want to be able to get on with things and earn a living. But too many are stuck with a holiday they have paid a lot of money for and can't get out without losing all of it. I can't imagine for instance anyone with children will want to take any risks. The FO needs to take steps to allow those folks to get their money back and rearrange.
This is not comparable to the riots we had, not sure why folks think it is. This looks like heading for civil war- if it isn't already.

The danger is not just from the rioters but also from any Egyptian who believes that the UK is partly responsible for the Armys' actions.
We see regularly how Islamists have a tendency to 'overeact' when they feel they are wronged.
These people could be anywhere in Egypt, including those in close contact with tourists.
My daughter, son in law and grandaughter went on Tuesday for 2 weeks, I will breathe a sigh of relief when they are back.

However 'safe' people may actually be if they never leave their AI hotels, for most of us this isn't what a holiday is about. I go on holiday to see the sites, mix with the locals and generally experience a different culture, as I'm sure many others do, and it would not be a holiday for me if I was unable to do so. It is grossly unfair that the TO's will only allow people to cancel without penalty when the FO have spoken. Different people want different things from their hard-earned holiday and it is patently clear that even if they go, most will certainly not be getting the holiday for which they signed up.

Ive read that some Travel companies in Ireland have stopped all holidays to Egypt and have cancelled all holidays there.
It seems that the only guests who will be in Sharm will be from the UK.
It wont be much of a holiday if the hotels are half full.

Jay Trip wrote:

It seems that the only guests who will be in Sharm will be from the UK.

and thousands of Russians

Aslemma wrote:

However 'safe' people may actually be if they never leave their AI hotels, for most of us this isn't what a holiday is about. I go on holiday to see the sites, mix with the locals and generally experience a different culture, as I'm sure many others do, and it would not be a holiday for me if I was unable to do so. It is grossly unfair that the TO's will only allow people to cancel without penalty when the FO have spoken. Different people want different things from their hard-earned holiday and it is patently clear that even if they go, most will certainly not be getting the holiday for which they signed up.

This is very true Aslemma, many people chose an Al hotel in Sharm, but do use it as a base for either a one or two day trip to Cairo or Luxor, so they get a best of both worlds kind of holiday.

Now none of that can happen they will have to stay in resort. If they booked over three months ago they aren't really getting the holiday they thought they were. I'm surprised that the TO's themselves aren't being a bit more flexible.

Even without an FCO change of heart, surely just letting people change destination they aren't going to lose money

I know technically once you have paid your balance you can't change but these are difficult situations, if a family doesn't go they could be losing £3000 or £4000 for two weeks In August, plus their chance of a family holiday together, It's a lot to walk away from. We are in the middle of a recession I don't believe there aren't loads of empty hotel rooms in the Canaries or elsewhere they could swap to with a bit of goodwill by the TO's.

I agree Del it is a worry in the Citys. I think the MB are not only targeting Government Buildings, Coptic Churches are being burnt and also supermarkets known to be owned by Coptics - it's all very sad. Also whilst as a tourist you can probably avoid Gov Buildings how do you now what shops are owned by whom?

just had a message from daughter, she says that it is all quiet there with no problems, a bonus is that with no Germans they don't have to get up early for a sunbed.