Yesterday Egypt announced plans to roll out a travel recovery plan in the tourism-dependent country, following the political upheaval over the last couple of months which saw President Hosni Mubarak removed from power and tourists desert the nation in their droves.
Travel operators and airlines will be offered extra incentives to resume flights to the North African country in order to stimulate more demand and prevent carriers from cutting capacity even further.
Tui Travel and EasyJet announced the open-ended initiative yesterday, which began earlier in March.
The new Egyptian government is desperate to get the message out that things are back to normal and the country is open for business once more, in order to help speed the recovery from the devastating economic losses of the last few months.
It is thought that the government could pay more than $100 million in incentives throughout the rest of 2011.
The offer has been made in the guise of cuts in a levy that is typically charged to airlines operating in the country, which costs about $5 for each passenger. The government is also offering airlines payments for any unfilled seats as a way of discouraging operators from reducing the number of flights to the country, or using smaller capacity aircraft.
A Tui Travel spokeswoman said that the incentives, offered by the local government, tourist boards and hoteliers, are a very positive step. She added that in return, the company was committed to encouraging tourists to come back to Egypt, offering a range of deals to travelers.
