EGYPT: Israel Advises Tourists To Check Out Of Sharm el Sheikh Over Terror Threats

Egypt is likely to be subject to an ISIS terror attack in the near future according to Israel, which has warned tourists in the Red Sea resorts to leave immediately.

What does this mean for tourists?

Israel has warned that it believes an ISIS terror attack is imminent in Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, and is advising citizens to leave the area immediately.

Israelis have also been warned to cancel all future travel plans to the area.

“We don't want to cry wolf, wolf,” Eitan Ben-David, the head of Israel's counter-terror bureau, said. “We really believe that the threat is serious.”

The Red Sea resorts include tourist destinations such as Sharm el Sheikh, Luxor and Hurghada.

These are popular resorts with British holidaymakers for winter sun, and while demand has dropped off since prominent terrorist attacks in 2015 and last year, thousands still visit every year.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not updated its advice in response to Israel’s claims that a terror threat is imminent.

Although it advises against all travel to the Governorate of North Sinai and all but essential travel to the Governorate of South Sinai, it specifically excludes the Red Sea Resorts.

The FCO says: “The tourist areas along the Nile river including Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings and the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada aren’t included in the areas to which the FCO advise against all but essential travel.”

Rasha Azaizi, director of the Egyptian State Tourist Office in the UK, said: "Egypt is and has always been open for business and 2017 will be a year of major growth and recovery. Tour operators, like Thomas Cook, are reporting a pump up in sales.

"As in every country in the world, the security measures in Egypt are very strict. As the terrible events in London last week have shown, terrorism is a global phenomenon and we all must be vigilant."

British visitors are still warned not to fly into Sharm el Sheikh after a plane from Sharm to St Petersburg, Russia, crashed in 2015.

Russian authorities stated that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the plane.

The FCO says: “As a precautionary measure, we are advising against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh.”

When asked about whether the threat level in Egypt had increased, an FCO spokesperson said: “FCO Travel Advice is kept under constant review.”

Frank Brehany, MD of HolidayTravelWatch, said: "Whilst tourism has essentially stayed away from Egypt, we must understand their reasons for doing so, whilst offering sympathy and understanding to those who rely on that tourism.

"It is not in my view the role of UK holidaymakers to be simply a ‘commodity' in the promotion of tourist trade between the UK and Egypt; that can surely only come when all the right measures and conditions are in place to guarantee their safety and indeed demonstrate that they not only work but that there is stability in any difficult destination."

The threat of terrorism is currently labelled as “high” in Egypt.

EGYPT: Tour Operators Warn They Will Fly Elsewhere Unless Airport Security Is Guaranteed Soon.

Tour operators warn they will have to fly elsewhere unless airport security can be guaranteed soon.

British package holidays directly to Sharm el-Sheikh may not resume until next July unless tour operators receive assurances soon that its airport is secure from infiltration by jihadists.

Travel companies have warned that if a verdict on the safety of is not reached by the end of this month, they will need to divert next season’s flights to other destinations.

That would leave British travellers unable to visit a popular sun spot and strike a major blow to the Egyptian economy, which relies heavily on British tourism.

It is unlikely the UK government will be able to reach a decision by the travel industry’s end-of-November deadline, and Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, has said that flights may remain suspended until Christmas.

The uncertainty is fuelled by the fact that Egypt’s authorities have still not established whether or not an operative of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) smuggled a bomb on to the Russian airliner that crashed nine days ago, killing all 224 aboard.

Investigators have reportedly interrogated 18 airport managers and workers but have made no arrests and still do not know if there is a mole among the staff.

Eight British flights left yesterday carrying around 2,000 passengers. Some 15,000 Britons are still in the resort, of which 3,000 were supposed to be home already.

The British airlift is dwarfed by the Russian repatriation, which is seeing more than 20 flights taking 4,800 passengers out of Sharm el-Sheikh every day.

John Casson, Britain’s ambassador to Egypt, denied suggestions that Russia’s operations were slowing down the return flights of UK tourists.

Tourists enjoy the sea at Sharm el-Sheikh

Mr Casson added that the UK was confident British travellers could fly safely through other Egyptian airports.

It emerged, meanwhile, that holiday operators are selling packages to hotels within striking distance of the heartland of the Isil-affiliated group suspected of targeting the Russian airliner.

Websites including lastminute.com are offering holidays to Taba Heights, Egypt, for departures this week, even though the British government has been advising against all but essential travel to areas around the resort since last year.

Three tourists died in a suicide bombing in Taba last year. Hundreds of local civilians and troops have been killed in attacks.

However, Lastminute.com is offering a 10-night break at the Hilton Taba Resort Hotel and British visitors are known to currently be at the resort.

Recent reviews of Taba written by British tourists on TripAdvisor suggest they had no idea that it was in a danger zone.

One, Mike C from Chester, who stayed in April this year, said that “UK airlines don’t fly to Taba for some reason any more, so you get a bus or taxi from Sharm which can add to the occasion.”

Eight more flights are expected to leave Sharm el-Sheikh today to bring home British holidaymakers.

Tourists flying home at the weekend complained that there was still chaos at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

Marc Standen, 28, a car salesman from Westgate, Kent, said: “They did a semi-pat down inside and we took our shoes off. I don’t think it was very thorough. Their security is terrible and they are completely overwhelmed.”

Bags taken on board were not checked adequately, he said, and at one point around 400 people tried to squeeze through two glass doors to get to a final security check, leaving some hurt as they got trampled.

He added: “We have left our two bags behind in a pile in the middle of the terminal, and I honestly don’t know if we will see them again.”

In a nutshell:
The Foreign Office (FCO) says there is a high threat from terrorism, but only advises against travel to certain areas
How many people does the FCO advice affect?
The 900,000 British nationals who visit Egypt every year
Out of bounds areas:
The FCO has advised against all travel to the Governorate of North Sinai
Only travel if absolutely necessary to:
Governorate of South Sinai (excluding Sharm el Sheikh); the area west of the Nile Valley and Nile Delta regions; all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh airport
The areas currently deemed safe:
The Sharm el Sheikh perimeter barrier, Nile Delta and Marsa Matruh. This includes the tourist areas along the Nile river (including Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings) and the Red Sea Resorts of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada

EGYPT: How Safe Is It To Travel To Sharm El Sheik

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has directed Irish airlines to avoid the Sinai Peninsula, following the crash of a Russian plane there last weekend.

Russian MetroJet Flight 9268 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula last Saturday following a "sudden and unexpected situation", killing 224 passengers and crew.

The plane took off from the Egyptian Red Sea holiday resort of Sharm El Sheikh, with many of the passengers holidaymakers from St. Petersburg.

No cause has been identified for the crash, although terrorism has not been ruled out. The possibility of a bomb placed on board the aircraft would have very serious ramifications for the resort and its airport - Africa's third-busiest.

On Wednesday evening, the IAA directed Irish airline operators not to operate to/from Sharm el‐Sheikh Airport, Egypt or in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula airspace "until further notice".

The announcement follows a similar "precautionary" move in the UK, with Thomson, Thomas Cook, Monarch, easyJet and BA having now suspended flights.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has not changed its travel advice, however.

It advises Irish citizens to note the IAA direction, but does not recommend against travelling to the resort. It says potential visitors should "exercise a high degree of caution and avoid travelling outside the resort."

The British FCO adds: “We are not raising the threat level in the resort. The advice applies only to air travel to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.”

A team of UK aviation experts travelled to assess the security arrangements at Sharm El Sheikh airport Wednesday night, with an initial assessment reportedly showing improvements are required.

That is the current (and very unusual) situation.

It differs to Tunisia earlier this year, for instance, when holidaymakers were evacuated after a terrorist attack saw travel alerts stepped up.

The British security team will be examining passenger-screening processes, baggage handling procedures, and the effectiveness of background checks on airport staff at Sharm El Sheikh airport.

Thousands of tourists are now said to be stranded in Sharm El Sheikh.

Those on package holidays should be looked after by their tour operator, which is legally obliged to get them home and to provide care and assistance in the meantime.

Independent travellers should seek advice from their airlines, which are obliged under EU law to offer refunds or re-routing with care and assistance.

This is an evolving situation, but some reports have suggested that British security officials are developing a secondary operation to screen passengers and their baggage, and to protect UK aircraft at the airport.

Charter flights from Ireland to Egypt finished last week, and Falcon, Thomson Holidays and Red Sea Holidays have all now ended their summer programmes to Sharm El Sheikh.

However, Irish tourists may could still travel independently, and a small number of tour operators, including LowCostHolidays.ie and Cassidy Travel, continue to offer packages using flights via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, for example.

As of Thursday morning, LowCostHolidays.ie advises us that it has no Irish customers in Sharm, and is "constantly reviewing the situation and will be following the guidelines as recommended by the DFA."

"The sooner everyone finds out what really happened, the better," Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA) told The Herald. "At the moment it is a no-go area.”

Sharm El Sheikh has a troubled history as a tourist resort.

The resort was hit by terrorist attacks in 2005 that killed 88 people and wounded over 200, making them the deadliest in Egypt's history.

In 2010, a series of shark attacks injured several swimmers and closed beaches for over a week after a German woman was killed while snorkelling.

In 2014, security threats saw the resort's withdrawal from Irish holiday brochures, though packages resumed after the DFA downgraded its travel alert.

The fact that the latest air disaster comes just months after a terrorist attack that left 38 dead in Tunisia will further fuel concerns about North African travel.

The vast majority of visits remain incident-free, however.

Indeed, one of the first things tourists to Sharm El Sheikh will notice are its armed tourist police. Together with vehicle checks and CCTV, they have created a ring of steel on the Sinai Peninsula, reflecting its value as a cash cow for Egyptian tourism.

"Irish citizens are advised to avoid-non-essential travel to Egypt at this time due to a heightened threat of terrorist incidents, including targeted attacks against foreigners, and a continuing threat of civil unrest," the DFA says.

The following exceptions apply: Sharm El Sheikh; Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel (including cruises between them); the Red Sea coastal resort of Hurghada and other Red Sea resorts outside the Sinai peninsula, where Irish citizens are advised to exercise caution and arrive and depart by air.

Strictly speaking, if you cancel your holiday without the DFA declaring travel to be unsafe, it could be deemed "disinclination to travel". As such, you may have to give up your deposit, pay a cancellation fee or forfeit some or all of the cost.

If your tour operator cancels, however, you will be entitled to a refund or replacement holiday.

Having the appropriate travel insurance in place can defray these costs... but you need to check the small print in your policy.

If the DFA declares travel to Sharm to be unsafe, you will be entitled to a full refund. You are unlikely to claim successfully if you are simply nervous about travel, however.