A relative pause in Middle Eastern tensions in Israel and the easing of Egyptian visa processing is seeing Canadians flocking back to the Land of the Pharaohs in 2025, according to Goway, which reports that bookings are up 250 percent in the past few months compared to the year before – a year blighted by full-fledged war between neighbouring Israel and Gaza.
Moira Smith, Goway’s GM for Africa and Asia, told Travel Industry Today the trend is “really, really great,” noting that before Gaza’s attack on Israel on Oct. 2023, and the subsequent Israeli reprisal, bookings for Egypt (and Dubai) were “exploding,” but after the war started, they “literally fell off a cliff.”
A year ago, Travel Industry Today visited Egypt and discovered how utterly unaffected the country was by the conflict next door.
Nevertheless, visitations to the country declined drastically with a severe impact on the travel industry there.
“Anyone who knows anything about Egypt knows that life is normal (here) – like it was before (the war),” Samir Ahdy, director of operations for the Sonesta George1 Nile cruise ship Samir Ahdy, told us at the time.
But in the face of a 60% decline in bookings, he lamented, “Even if the war ends in five minutes, nothing will change for this season. We’re at the stage that we don’t even know what to say. Anybody who hears from friends or social media, ‘Don’t go to Egypt,’ I don’t know why.”
Now the bookings are returning, and Smith notes that amid a 60% increase in leads for Egypt, the triple-digit booking surge means that those leads are being converted.
“Egypt is such a bucket list destination and there’s a lot of pent-up demand,” she observes.
Also helpful was Egypt’s decision on Dec. 1 to both reinstate e-visas and allow Canadians to get their travel visas (US$25 single visit/ $60 for multiple visits) again in person upon arrival.
A diplomatic spat between Canada and Egypt had prompted the latter in October 2023 to annul the previous process, forcing Canadians to have to navigate an unwieldy application system that required travellers to send their passport to the Egyptian consulate in Montreal in advance, thereby creating a significant disincentive to travel.
Jordan and Israel
Smith adds that many clients travel to Egypt and Jordan together, and the latter is currently seeing a modest recovery in bookings (about 30%), albeit from a lower threshold.
As for Israel, Smith believes the end of hostilities there with Gaza and Lebanon will see travellers slowly regain confidence in the destination and that Goway is expecting travel interest to pick up by Q4. (Ed. note: Smith’s comments came before Air Canada announced that it was reinstating flights to Israel in June).
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