Russian tour operators see record demand for trips to Egypt during ‘non-working days’
Russian tour operators are reporting record demand for tours to Egypt during the upcoming November holidays, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Maya Lomidze told RIA Novosti on Monday, October 25.
Russian tourists are primarily purchasing tour packages for 7–10 nights in the Egyptian resort towns of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. According to the ATOR, many Egyptian hotels are entirely booked already, and expensive hotels have the least vacancies. Several industry representatives also noted that flights to Egypt during the November long weekend are more than 75 percent booked.
The ATOR attributes this record demand for tours to Egypt to the impending partial lockdown in Moscow and other Russian regions. Due to the deteriorating coronavirus situation in Russia, the authorities announced paid “non-working days” from October 30 to November 7 (thereby extending a holiday long weekend).
Six regions opted to begin the non-working period on October 25. Moscow and the Moscow region are set to go into partial lockdown beginning on Thursday, October 28, and St. Petersburg will be under lockdown as of October 30.
Russians were urged not to travel during the non-working days, but nevertheless demand for flights has increased countrywide. In response, the authorities in Russia’s most popular tourism regions have begun to introduce additional restrictions.
On Monday morning, Russia registered 37,930 new coronavirus cases, as well as 1,069 deaths over the past 24 hours. Also on Monday, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and heads of regions to provide Russians with two paid days off to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
