Luxor Balloon Crash

Sadly yet again Egypt makes the news for all the wrong reasons. The tragic balloon accident at Luxor this morning which is reported to have claimed the lives of at least 19 foreign tourists including some British will do the Egyptian tourism industry and especially Luxor no good.

There have been previous balloon accidents, notably in 2009 when one crashed into a telephone mast injuring many of the passengers but none fatally. This then prompted a huge number of new regulations, increased training for the pilots and then finally new restrictions and guidelines introduced before flights could resume including a balloon airport and limiting the number of balloons in the air at the same time.

The balloon flights have proved a very popular excursion trip for tourist even allowing for the the very early start, generally around 0500 with the balloons taking off from 0600, however most if not all UK tour operators do not sell them directly, Atp Travel included, partly due to insurance restrictions and partly as the local Egyptian tour operators like to sell these locally as it is a main source of income for them.

It is very hard to see how the balloon excursions can carry on or that any tourists would feel safe taking one or that their insurance would infact cover them for the trip.

However at this time our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones

Nile Cruise trends

Since the start of the New Year we have seen a definite increase in the demand for luxury Nile Cruises compared to the same period 12 months ago.

Although the outlook in Egypt has not improved that greatly (though I hasten to add it is very safe) its clear that holiday makers appetite for Nile Cruises and in particular the top end boats has returned and we have seen significant increases in sales. Whether this is partly due to lower prices triggered not just by the Nile Cruise companies reducing prices but also by the majority of the airlines servicing the routes to Luxor (easyjet, Monarch and Thomson) also reducing their prices is not clear.

For the remainder of the winter period there are still some excellent deals with prices in March starting from £999.00 per person which includes: return flights, 7 Nights Full board, sightseeing and all transfers.

For more information on our luxury Nile Cruise boats contact Atp Travel Ltd on 0845 680 9261 or email us at info@atptravel.co.uk

Great Luxury Nile Cruise Testimonials

There really is nothing more satisfying than a great Luxury Nile Cruise testimonial from clients who you have spent time planning their first Nile Cruise holiday for.

Given all of the "issues" and negative media reports, there is no doubt that selling holidays to certain parts of Egypt has got harder. Many agents are selling at discounted prices and worse, offering Nile Cruise holidays based on Nile Cruise boats that the clients will not ultimately end on, and in many cases they are put on lower standard boats.

At Atp Travel Ltd it is one of the principles of our company that if for any reason the Nile Cruise boat any of our clients are booked on will not operate, the clients are moved to a boat of the same or superior standard. We offer the clients in general 3 Nile Cruise boats which we know will be suitable replacements and then let the clients choose.

Looking at recent reports on trip advisor from clients who have booked on the Ms Emely been moved onto other boats on arrival to Luxor it is clear that the trend is to put the clients on a lower standard boat and not worry about the consequences.

So if you want a quality, Nile Cruise or Luxury Nile Cruise holiday Atp Travel Ltd can provide this for you.

For more information on our great offers contact Atp Travel Ltd on 0845 680 9261 or email at info@atptravel.co.uk

Secret Escapes Luxury Nile cruise

Last few week I received a number of enquiries for our luxury Nile Cruise boat the Ms Mayfair which was slightly strange in that I don't normally get so many requests for a specific boat. However one of the enquirers let slip that they had seen an offer on Secret Escapes and were checking prices as well as trying to obtain further information on the Ms Mayfair.

This has happened previously where another of the so called "member only travel clubs" were advertising the same boat but when members had phoned the travel club they had no real knowledge of the Ms Mayfair so the members ended up calling Atp Travel Ltd and in some cases booking with us.

I am sure that these member only travel clubs do offer some great value holidays and deals but do prospective holiday makers really think they are getting a deal booking with them?? As an example below are comparisons on the current 7 Night Luxury Nile Cruise deal being offered by Secret Escapes and the current best prices for the same cabin with Atp Travel Ltd for the next 6 departures.

Departure date                    Secret Escapes pp                        Atp Travel pp
18/02                                  £1279.00                                    £1269.00
25/02                                 £1289.00                                    £1279.00
04/03                                 £1199.00                                    £1180.00
11/03                                 £1284.00                                    £1255.00
18/03                                 £1219.00                                    £1204.00
25/03                                 £1699.00                                   £1399.00

For more information on our great offers contact Atp Travel Ltd on 0845 680 9261 or email at info@atptravel.co.uk

What counts as a great value Nile Cruise holiday

With a little time on my hands I have been reading and contributing to some of the topics on trip advisor and I came across one titled MS Orchid with First Choice -7 day cruise- Need some advice where the poster was asking for help with booking excursions as her £1800.00 Nile Cruise holiday did not include these although she had thought it did!

On reading the post further it seemed that possibly the lady had misread how the tour company had represented what was included in the holiday which was further compounded by the rep selling the holiday not being "Sure" if the trips were included or not.

The point is that for a £900.00 holiday on a fairly old and not really 5* boat you should really expect to get one of the main elements of the holiday that you are going to Egypt for, ie the excursions

£900.00 is a lot of money in anyone's eyes and in Egypt especially you can get a great value holiday for much less or a holiday of a much higher quality for the same sort of money.

Currently for under £700.00 you can have a week on the RA II  with flights, full board and more sightseeing than you will see on most other boats

For around £900.00 you can have a week on the Luxury Nile Cruise boat Ms Farah with flights, full board and sightseeing which with its ultra modern contemporary style will ensure you a great Egypt holiday

So the moral is don't always book with the big tour operators and definitely read all the small print to know what is and what is not included!!!

For more information on our great offers contact Atp Travel Ltd on 0845 680 9261 or email at info@atptravel.co.uk

Tutankhamun tomb: Human breath wreaks havoc in Egypt

The latest new for Egypt to make the main page of the BBC website is again not good news but its nothing really new. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21089027

For years anyone that knows anything about Egypt and the fabulous tombs of the Valleys of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, news that human breath was affecting the pigmentation in the Tomb of  Tutankhamun and may cause it to close is nothing new. Stories about this have been reported regularly stating that due to humidity levels increasing the tombs may have to be closed in order to stop the fantastic rich colours from disappearing.

Will anything be done, er probably not. At a time when the country is crying out for more tourists telling potential visitors that they cant visit one of the top 5 attractions (V|alley of the Kings) and view the Tutankhamun tomb would seriously not help. With all Nile Cruise excursions visiting the Valley of the Kings as well as the normal Classical Tours any closures will make these holidays a lot less appealing.

So although its unlikely that we will see any closures soon it might be a good idea to think about that Luxury Nile Cruise or Classical Tour Holiday sooner so that you can enjoy all of Egypt's fantastic historical treasures before they disappear.

So if you are looking for a great value Luxury Nile Cruise on some of the newest and most luxurious boats on the Nile then please contact us at info@atptravel.co.uk or call on  0845 680 9261 for details. There are some great deals over the next few months so checkout our website www.atptravel.co.uk for details

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to one and all and for Egypt's sake lets hope its a good one.

So far things are showing signs of improvements with enquiries and bookings up on the same period from last year. We all hope that the anniversary of the "revolution" on the 25th January will pass without any major incident and that finally there will be some good news about Egypt rather than the depressing stuff that has appeared.

So here's to a fantastic to 2013 for us all.

Love and best wishes

Andrew