Cathay Pacific cancels flights to Dubai and Riyadh for rest of March<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Premier Travel reported a similar shift in enquiries to the western Mediterranean and alternative long\u2011haul destinations. <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing and expect to continue seeing [while the conflict continues] fewer bookings to parts of the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf, with more people opting for the western Mediterranean, other European destinations, or long\u2011haul locations accessible without passing through the Middle East,\u201d said managing director Paul Waters.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
He warned: \u201cWhile people still want to travel, uncertainty is causing some to take longer to commit, which could push more bookings to be made even later than we\u2019re currently seeing and, for some, lead to them deciding not to travel at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advantage Travel Partnership said members\u2019 bookings had \u201cslowed slightly\u201d, particularly for Cyprus, Egypt and Turkey, but pointed out booked Easter sales were 13% up year on year.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDestinations such as mainland Spain, the Canaries, France and Italy remain popular, with cruise still in double-digit growth,\u201d said commercial director John Sullivan.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inspire Europe chief executive Lisa Henning noted softer Easter sales but said the appetite for long\u2011haul travel remained strong, adding customers were now planning \u201cfurther ahead than ever\u201d and seeking lower deposits with \u201cgreater flexibility and lighter commitment\u201d.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Operators named the Caribbean, South America and Africa as popular long-haul destination choices.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kuoni said customers keen to travel imminently were choosing the Caribbean, Mauritius and Africa as well as European favourites such as Italy, Portugal and Spain.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chris Wright, Sunvil managing director, said Cyprus demand had \u201csoftened\u201d but reported a \u201cnoticeable increase\u201d in interest in South America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, this was driven by clients looking to reprotect imminent trips routed through the Middle East, but it has developed into a broader shift with those regions being perceived as more straightforward travel options. As demand has moved, we\u2019ve also seen some upward pressure on airfares,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cyplon Holidays said new Cyprus sales had \u201cstagnated\u201d but existing clients continued to travel with the \u201codd one or two\u201d amending trips.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Managing director Harry Hajipapas said some clients booked to affected destinations had switched to \u201csafer\u201d destinations for Easter. <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem we\u2019re having logistically is rerouting bookings travelling farther afield such as to the Maldives via the Gulf on Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Egypt operators Red Sea Holidays and Discover Egypt reported \u201cno discernible change in demand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Red Sea Holidays executive director Peter Kearns said: \u201cInitial feedback from customers and agents was understandably that of concern.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, once assurances were given by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) that it was safe to travel, and given the proximity to Iran (over 2000km away), customers are choosing to travel.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInterestingly, there has been a surge in bookings recently from customers originally due to travel to Dubai and opted to switch to Egypt as an alternative, safe destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Philip Breckner, director, Discover Egypt, said: \u201cMost people realise Egypt is operating normally and is far away from the current conflict.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are getting the odd call from agents, asking if things are ok in Egypt, and we are giving the relevant assurances. The FCDO advice to the tourism areas of Egypt has not changed in many months.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade has reported a \u201cnoticeable shift\u201d in mainstream holiday demand and a softening in late sales as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-471583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}