Context

World air carriers have changed the schedule of their flights to Egypt due to riots in the country and a curfew there. Lufthansa, Air Berlin, Delta Air Lines and LOT have temporarily suspended flights. Alitalia, KLM and British Airways have seriously adjusted their flight schedules. National carrier Egypt Air yesterday canceled all flights scheduled to take place between 15:00 and 20:00 local time due to the curfew.

As Kommersant was assured by the Federal Air Transport Agency, Russian companies were forced to only slightly adjust their schedules. At the same time, sources in the department emphasized that minor failures did not come as a surprise to them. “Taking into account the increasing intensity of work at Egyptian airports for the departure of foreign citizens who have expressed a desire to return to their homeland (mainly from Hurghada and Cairo), each slot is agreed upon separately,” explained the Federal Air Transport Agency.

However, there is no particular desire among Russians to urgently interrupt their vacation. According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) as of Monday evening, only about 1 thousand people out of about 40 thousand organized tourists currently in Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and other resorts in Egypt agreed to return home early. Due to the lack of need, the Transaero airline even canceled a special flight that was supposed to take passengers out of Hurghada.

And yet, the flow of Russian tourists to Egypt has noticeably decreased in recent days. Flight load is just over 50%. At the same time, the number of cancellations of vouchers for later dates has increased significantly.

However, there are also enough people who want to go on holiday to Egypt at their own risk. On Monday, almost all tour operators announced that “due to the situation in major cities in Egypt, all new applications made for tours to this country are transferred to the status of a “waiting list” for an indefinite period.” Despite this, the agencies asked operators to sell tours for upcoming dates, as the clients themselves demanded it. “Such tourists did not want to listen to any arguments and were ready to give at least twenty receipts that they take responsibility,” Maya Lomidze, executive director of ATOR, told Kommersant.

Experts note that it will take several months to restore the tourist flow after the events in Egypt. As an example, they cite the experience of Thailand, where in November 2008 the opposition seized the capital's Suwannaphum Airport, paralyzing air traffic for a week. In December, when the situation had already completely returned to normal, the Russian tourist flow through this airport decreased, according to the Association of Travel Agencies of Thailand, by 52%. The first increase was recorded only in June of the following year - by 5%. Ekaterina Sobol, Sergey Sobolev

Russian tourists are in no hurry to return home