British travellers have expressed their anger at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) over the lack of change in its Egypt travel warnings, despite moves made by other governments.
Last week the government said it advises against all travel to certain parts of the country (North Sinai), a warning which, at the time of writing, remained unchanged.
However many tour operators will not give full refunds on holidays unless the FCO warns against travel to all parts of a country – thus most holidaymakers will have to either take their holiday or face losing money.
The Daily Telegraph reported that around 40,000 UK nationals are currently on holiday in Egypt and quoted Brits who aren’t happy with their holiday company and the government for not changing its current stance.
Pam Clarke, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, said: “I am angry with Thomas Cook as my son Liam and his fiancee Kayleigh are due to fly to Hurghada on September 10 and for the last three weeks have been trying to change destination due to the unrest in Egypt.
“They have been fobbed off by Thomas Cook continually, they have tried to change to another destination and even offered to pay more money than the almost GBP2,000 they have paid for their holiday but Thomas Cook say ‘Don’t panic we are monitoring the situation’. They are scared to go to Hurghada. They have friends who live in Sharm and they are saying don’t come to Egypt it is not safe.”
Dean Rusk, 51, told the paper: “We booked it six months ago and were really looking forward to it. We’ve been checking the Foreign Office website every day to see what the advice is and it hasn’t changed, which means we can’t get our money back.
“We feel a bit trapped really as we don’t have a choice about it.”
A further update on the current situation in Egypt can be read in our latest article.
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