The Red Sea destination, which welcomed around 100,000 British visitors in 2025 making it one of its top five markets, launched a five-part training course to agents last year, has struck up a partnership with Hays Travel and hosted several agent fams.
It has also been quietly forging ties with some of the UK's largest trade-facing operators through joint marketing campaigns, notably easyJet holidays.
"We've made a commitment to trade and we definitely see the value in the UK market," says Ashraf El Siessy, managing director of Orascom Hotels Management, part of the group that developed and manages El Gouna. "Every time we have agents in destination, they're coming back and making sales.
"Yes, they're completing the [training] platform, but seeing is believing. You don't want your salesperson, your representation, not knowing what you're all about. We are experience-led. Once agents have that awareness, we see the results. It's definitely grown the business.
"Investing in our relationship with travel agents is important as we understand our buyers have different behaviours, and each hotel caters to a different demographic. So agents play a very important role for us with that."
'Awareness gap'
El Gouna started placing a concerted focus on the UK market three years ago, and with UK visitation – which is spread throughout the year – going up by a double-digit figure last year, El Siessy believes these efforts are on the right track. "We have ambitions to grow even further," he stresses.
"The UK market is very important for us and we strongly believe growth will be delivered through solid partnerships. It's not the number one market for us yet, but we aspire to grow those numbers. We see the potential."
He highlights Orascom's success with Taba Heights, which was popular with Brits until the Foreign Office cautioned against travel to northern parts of Egypt's South Sinai region. "We know how to deliver the service British travellers expect," he says, pointing to repeat business of 40-50% from the UK market.
El Gouna is served by almost 50 weekly flights from the UK to nearby Hurghada, which is around a five- to five-and-a-half hour direct flight from the UK. El Siessy acknowledges growing airlift will play a key role attracting more British visitors.
El Siessy believes working with agency has grown business to El Gouna
"There's lots of coverage throughout the UK," he says. "Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle, Cardiff, Gatwick, Luton. And because of the demand, that's growing. I believe we will see further growth over the next months. That number of flights is increasing due to the demand.
"We had a distribution and awareness gap, and that's what we're trying to bridge now. And it's not just us focusing on growing the market out of the UK to Hurghada, there's a lot of focus from the tourism authorities too."
Next year will see Jet2 return to Egypt for the first time since 2011. It has put 18 weekly flights to Egypt on sale across 12 routes from seven of its UK bases. This includes two weekly flights to Hurghada from Birmingham, Manchester and Stansted airport, and weekly services from East Midlands, Glasgow and Leeds Bradford airports.
Similarly, easyJet currently flies to Hurghada from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Glasgow, Liverpool, Luton and Manchester, and Tui from Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Gatwick, Manchester and Newcastle.
Lifestyle and luxury
El Gouna is home to around 25,000 people from more than 50 countries. It is a year-round destination set on 12km of Red Sea coastline with more than 18 hotels, including lifestyle brands like Casa Cook and Cook's Club, which were recently acquired by Domes Resorts.
"Lifestyle has taken a forefront in travel, so to have two hotels that represent that there has definitely helped us grow our reach in various markets, and lifestyle brand hotels have significant uptake in the UK market," El Siessy says. "There's appetite too for luxury."
The destination also had two 18-hole championship golf courses, and has hosted various elite sporting pursuits, especially on the water. This focus on sport had led to a partnership with Aston Villa Football Club in the UK, which was formally unveiled last week.
Sheraton is one of several major hotel brands operating in El Gouna
Asked if business has been affected by the war in the Middle East, El Siessy insists El Gouna has not seen a decline, but acknowledges changes to booking patterns. "We've had a very good year, our outlook is strong," he says. "We've seen some shift in terms of time out to booking. However, we are still very confident."
El Gouna made a splash earlier this year when it featured in an episode of The Apprentice, which saw the candidates tasked with organising corporate away days, showcasing some of what the destination has to offer. El Siessy says it brought the destination into millions of UK households.
It has enjoyed a secondary boost too from shows like Gogglebox, not to mention the candidates' own social media posts. "They gave them a day off so they all went off and were putting up pictures of El Gouna," El Siessy reveals. "We think strategically about the business – about how do we turn every customer or guest into an ambassador for El Gouna."
