Some 180 Slovenian tourists scheduled to fly to Egypt for holidays today, have decided not to go to this Arab country after violence there has been escalating over the past few days.
The plane which was to take the group to Red Sea tourist resorts in Egypt will depart from Ljubljana's airport this afternoon only to pick up the tourists who are returning home.
The move comes after Slovenian tour operators advised tourists not to travel to Egypt, offering them alternative holiday arrangements.
This also means that all flights to Egypt have been suspended until further notice, sales director at tour operator Kompas Peter Majerle told the STA on Saturday.
He said Kompas had called up each tourist to advise them against travelling to Egypt, giving them an option to stay at home or choose another destination. Some decided only to postpone the Egypt holidays.
A similar action was taken by tour operator Palma, whose Nika Vrhovnik told the STA that their clients were advised against travelling to Egypt as soon as the Slovenian Foreign Ministry tightened its travel alert.
The ministry yesterday warned Slovenian citizens against non-essential travel to Egypt, while still saying that Red Sea resorts remained "relatively safe".
Andrej Šter of the ministry's consular department told Radio Slovenija on Friday that in this way Slovenia harmonised its alert with the majority of EU countries.
"It is our estimate that this does not make the lives of those who are already in Egypt harder, but they should keep avoiding rallies and places where demonstrations are being held," he said.
Slovenia's flag carrier Adria Airways does not have a regular air route to Egypt, with tourist travelling there on its charter flights.
Source: The Slovenia Times
