British tourists' bookings to Egypt rose by 39 percent: ABTA

CAIRO – 10 March 2019: According to ABTA, a commercial body, British tourists' bookings to Egypt rose by 39 percent as Britons look for affordable beaches without the worry of cancellation due to Brexit.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that the impact of Brexit or the UK's exit from the EU has been overshadowed by the traditional side of British tourists in recent weeks.

Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, agreed that Brexit is deterring Britons from holidaying abroad, adding that some countries have benefited from this influence such as Egypt, Spain, the southeastern Mediterranean, Poland and Bulgaria
According to a statement issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in January 2019, Russian and British tourists capture the largest portion of tourist inflows to Egypt.

The statement added that the British tourist inflow used to range between 800,000 and 1 million tourists, but this number also declined after the suspension of flights to Sharm El-Sheikh. British flights are now limited to the tourist landmarks in the Red Sea and the Upper Egyptian cities of Luxor and Aswan.