‘The Ural tour operators no longer view Egypt as one of the most affordable and popular tourist destinations. Not a lot of tours will be offered in the winter of 2010/2011, since all the major airlines will be operating fewer flights to this place. It has been announced that about fourteen flights a week will be available altogether, but no cheap trips are to be expected,’ says Director of Zima-Leto Group Olga Gulyar.

‘Egypt and Turkey have been extremely popular over the last two years because of the recession: these are the most affordable vacations abroad. Now things are different: plenty of other inexpensive and interesting destinations are offered to travelers, so there is just no need to offer more trips to Egypt. For one, the first direct chartered flight from Yekaterinburg to Hainan, China, and another one to Vietnam have been launched this year,’ Gulyar explains.

‘As for Egypt, unlike last year, it will now be hard to book an inexpensive tour even if you try to get some last-minute offers. As there used to be a lot of flights to Egypt before, the market players had to compensate for the over-supply with discounts, lower prices, and special offers. There is no need to do this now: the number of flights has gone down and the available flights get fully booked well in advance,’ the Director adds.