The Foreign Office says it does not believe there is “adequate protection for British tourists in Tunisia.” But that has not stopped Thomas Cook advertising holidays to be taken after April 30 to Monastir, less than 20 miles from the site where 30 Britons died in June. Seven nights all-inclusive including flights and transfers is from £313 per person – a 34 per cent discount.
It is is also promoting a holiday at the Kanta Resort, at Port el Kantaoui, just 3km from the June attack site for just £239 per person half board – a saving of 44 per cent.
But the knowledge that the resort is so close to where Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi gunned down 38 people, 30 of them British, has not put people off planning to book breaks there.
In a TripAdvisor review written after the attack one British woman said she would be happy to go back.
She said: “Myself my husband and our friends visited this hotel. We left the Wednesday before the awful incident. The service was out of this world, the interior was spectacular and the view absolutely amazing, the food was perfect. We would all certainly go back to Port el Kantoui for both the Hotel Kanta and Restaurant Mediterranean.”
“Terrorists continue to plan and conduct attacks in Egypt…Foreigners could be targeted in tourist resorts or other places. Attacks could be indiscriminate and may occur without prior warning.”
Foreign Office advice on Egypt
It is a similar picture in Sharm el Sheikh, where First Choice is currently selling a week at the four-star Coral Sea Water World for £576 per person all inclusive, for a May 2016 departure.
The Foreign Office does not at present advise against travel to Sharm el Sheikh itself but since the downing of a Russian plane carrying holidaymakers has advised against using the airport.
It says there is a high threat from terrorism in Egypt, adding: “we believe that terrorists continue to plan attacks” and that those targeting foreigners “can’t be ruled out.”
But several British families who recently stayed at the resort in October said they would go back.
One British wrote on TripAdvisor: “Overall we had a brilliant holiday, we felt safe and looked after the entire time and we will return again in the future.”
TUI Travel, the German travel giant which runs Thomson and First Choice, have extended their cancellation period for holidays to Sharm el-Sheikh and Tunisia to March 22, in line with FCO advice against all but essential travel.
The firm said in a statement: “Customers affected by this will be able to change their holiday to any of our destinations currently on sale, without incurring an amendment fee, or receive a full refund.”
Thomson says it will review its cancellation policy on holidays after that date closer to the time.
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