No sooner did August end than for most of us, grey skies arrived, sparking thoughts of how to escape the six months or so of dismal weather to follow.
The UK climate is a gift for the outbound travel industry of course, but this winter, like the last few, will see British holiday makers with fewer sunshine options than earlier this decade, as several key destinations are still off-limits.
Large areas of Egypt in particular have been bereft of UK tourists following Foreign Office (FCO) advice against flying into Sharm el Sheikh, as has all of Tunisia (up until just last month), meaning that alternative destinations such as the Canary Islands are bursting at the seams. Tenerife, for example, recorded an all-time high of just over two million UK visitors in 2016, up 16%, with flights from UK airports increasing by 18%.
Some relief for Tenerife and other hotspots is in sight this winter, with Egypt taking small steps back into the mainstream. Sharm’s airport is still off limits, meaning that the large hotel inventory there is also effectively out of bounds, presumably a frustration to UK operators, which can only watch as other countries’ tourists fill these rooms.
Thomas Cook is one operator intent on continuing a healthy programme to Egypt for the UK market, and from November is heading further south down the Red Sea coast to the resort of Marsa Alam. It is also adding capacity to Hurghada, even though the resort was the scene of a recent terrorist attack, which saw two German tourists stabbed and killed in July.
