UK Charter flights to Luxor cancelled for Summer 2012

The UK Nile Cruise market seems to have been dealt a huge blow for summer 2012 with the cancellation of both Monday flights from London Gatwick.

Currently the last available Monday outbound flights on both Monarch and Easy Jet is the 23rd April though Easy jets Wednesday service continues till the 20th June.

This will then leave only Egypt Airs flight from London Heathrow as the only direct service to Luxor on the day when most of the UK Nile Cruises start their service.

It seems the reason for the cancellations is pure commerce, ie the flights were not selling sufficiently well to make the route profitable and with the Egyptian Tourism board seemingly not in a position to offer any support this will create further problems for a market still struggling to recover after the events of 2012.

Thomson's Wednesday flights from both London Gatwick and Manchester will still be operating but with most of the UK Boats, The RA II being one of the exceptions, operating a schedule where they have already sailed from Luxor it remains to be seems what this will mean and how it will effect tourists who have already booked a Nile Cruise holiday.

Jordan and Turkey Holidays

As well as our Egypt programs, for 2012 we will be selling a selection of quality holidays to Jordan and Turkey from weekend breaks to extended classical tours with the same quality and service that we offer for Egypt.

Our Istanbul weekend starts at just £459.00 pp and our Jordan weekend from just £599.00 pp based on 2 people with private sightseeing included at not extra charge.

We also have a selection of extended tours that showcase each of these beautiful and fascinating countries from 4 to 8 nights and all at very very competitive prices. So if you are looking for something different this year why not Jordan or Turkey??

Cairo-Aswan Super Cruise

Several Nile Cruise companies are planning to restart the Cairo-Aswan "long Nile cruise" which previously operated between Cairo and Aswan and vice versa.

The planned restart after 16 years is hoped to give tourism to Upper Egypt a boost as the Cruise had previously been a very popular way to see many of Egypt's fantastic historical treasures. The cruise was stopped for a number of reason but chiefly due to lower water levels as well as a lack of good docks for the boats.

Only a small number of Nile Cruises companies will have the license to operate this service and most are building new purpose built luxury boats to cater for demand. In most cases the boats will be smaller but with larger cabins and more top end amenities such as spa and aromatherapy facilities, fitness centres and al a carte dinning.

The planned start is March 2012 and here at Atp Travel we will be offering several boats to our customers. This certainly is an exciting new development for Egyptian tourism.

2012 Nile Cruises

Good morning and a happy new year to one and all, though on day like to day there really is nothing much good about it !!!

January is never really a good month for most people what with the post christmas blues, the bad weather and the bills to pay for all the presents bought. So I thought a few photos of our Luxury Nile Cruise boats showing warm and sunny Egypt seemed like a good idea.

January is a great time to visit Egypt, the weather is not too hot and in general the tourist sites are quieter than most other months and at the moment there are some great deals on flights from both Gatwick and Manchester. So if you fancy escaping the cold English winter why not enjoy a luxury Nile Cruise.

Again a very happy new year to you all.

January Nile Cruise deals

We have some great deals available for January 2012 on some of our best selling Nile Cruise boats.

RA II 7 Night Nile Cruise with sightseeing and full board from only £ 649.00 pp on selected January dates. This is over £120.00 cheaper than the same holiday with Longwood travel !

Ms Farah and Ms Mayfair Luxury Nile Cruises with sightseeing and full board from £899.00 on selected January dates. You cannot get a Nile Cruise of the same standard for anywhere close to under £900.00!

Its a great time to travel with the weather in the 70s and no chance of rain. Plus the tourists sites are quieter so more time to enjoy the wonders of Egypt.

Thanks

Andrew

Atp Travel

A client recently asked me about Atp Travel and who we were and after I had finished giving all of the information it seemed a good idea to include in a post.

Atp travel are a small family run tour operator, travel agent and wholesaler who started life selling mainly bespoke Nile Cruises, Nile Cruise holidays, Classic Tours and Nile Cruise and Stay holidays to Egypt. Our goal is to offer a very personal service using all of the experience we have of Egypt so that our clients holiday is the best it can possibly be. This includes offering as much information and options required before the clients travel as well as ensuring that the service level, hospitality and overall arrangements exceed their expectations.

All of 0ur Nile Cruises have personally been inspected and each is the best in its class, be it value for money, or standard. We have boats like the very popular RA II which is also sold by companies like Longwood Holidays and Thomas Cook Signature but our prices are nearly always much lower than these guys.

We also have two of the newest most luxurious Nile Cruise boats, the Ms Farah and the Ms Mayfair, both launched in October 2010. Each offers superior levels of accommodation and facilities and will ensure a true luxury Nile Cruise experience but at a price lower than most of the competition selling these boat such as Mosaic Holidays and Nile Cruises Direct.

Our classic tours are all bespoke and private for clients and tailored to individual requirements but again at very competitive prices.

We have also now branched out into the Turkey and Jordan classical market working with 2 very experienced local operators and this shows great promise for 2012.

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone.

Andrew

Is Egypt safe?

Egypt again finds itself in the worlds eyes with the return of demonstrators to Tahrir Square and the very unfortunate death of some of these people during clashes with the authority's.  Of course this only has a negative impact on tourism in what should be a very busy time and we have certainly seen a reduction in enquiries along with negative comments from some people who had been looking to travel there.

But is it safe? We actually had clients in the Egyptian museum on the first sunday of the unrest and they certainly said that they were not worried by the demonstrations and enjoyed their time there. Further of all the recent posts on sites such as trip advisor from tourists who are in Egypt or who have spoken to people who are there, none have said it is not safe or not to go. The FCO travel advice has of course been updated but there are no travel restrictions in place.

So the reality is that whilst things look bad from what we see on the TV in Tahrir square, Egypt's tourist areas carry on working as normal. Its unfortunately a shame that the same cameras that are stationed in Tahrir Square could not travel around Egypt for a couple of days to Luxor and some of the Nile Cruises as well as some of the Red Sea resorts just to show that life there carries on as normal.