Resumption of flights between Russia, Egypt's Cairo not to result in recovery of Russian tourist flow to Egypt - travel industry union
MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Resuming air traffic between Russia and Cairo is not going to trigger mass demand for holiday travels to Egypt from Russia because holidaymakers will still be waiting for tickets to beach destinations back on sale, Russian Union of Travel Industry press secretary Irina Tyurina told the Interfax-Tourism website n Saturday.
"Tour operators don't make holiday packages containing air tickets to Cairo. This could only take place in the case of tailor-made holidays, not holiday packages of mass demand. So the opening of Cairo doesn't mean any mass demand for holidays. Customers will be waiting for beach destinations like Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh [to open]," Tyurina said.
Once these airports become accessible for Russian airlines, it will take tour operators two weeks to redirect their charter programs there, she said.
"Demand will be there for sure. The most frequent question everyone is asking now is 'When will they open up Egypt?' There are the tourists that have been traveling there for 15 years in a row and are only waiting for this destination. And I believe that the prices will be normal," she said.
It is the permission for charter flights that tour operators will be waiting for, because holidaymakers cannot take scheduled flights to every airport they need and besides, regular tickets are more expensive, she explained.
"There's one more thing I'd like to draw attention to. It's the fact that currently, all bags are wrapped up in a special tape at the airports of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, and before boarding a plane, every passenger must point at their bag and make sure that the tape's integrity is not broken. This is done in order to prevent anybody from putting anything [covertly] in their bag. Only when it's done, the bag will be uploaded on a plane. The system is complicated but this is for the sake of security," Tyurina said.
It was reported earlier that the Transport Ministry has forwarded proposals to the Russian government on resuming scheduled flights to Cairo.
