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Egypt tipped for resurgence in UK holiday bookings

Egypt is being tipped for a resurgence in popularity following the lifting of UK flight restrictions to Sharm el Shiekh.

The fellow Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Marsa Alam are also expected to see growth this year, according to Classic Collection Holidays.

New booking data from the operator reveals Egypt as an emerging destination for 2020, following the Foreign Office lifting a flight ban between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh in October.

The first Tui flight since the ban was lifted landed at the resort’s airport at the weekend.

The travel ban was imposed following the 2015 bombing of a Russian charter flight killing all 224 people on board.

Turkey is also named by Classic Collection Holidays as an emerging destination for 2020, following a troubled few years, along with Malta, Austria and Montenegro.

Spain continues to be the most popular overseas holiday spot this year, while Greece is attracting “significant” year-on-year growth in bookings by agents.

The operator is also seeing increased demand for destinations across Italy, such as the Amalfi Coast and the lakes.

January bookings suggest Madeira could attract a record number of British holidaymakers this year, while Croatia is the fifth most popular country.

The operator has also seen strong early demand for Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Vietnam and South Africa after introducing a long-haul programme in January.

Product and supply director Alex Gavalda said: “Long-haul demand has been strong since launch for our growing range of product.

“We also recently divided our contact centre into areas of specialism to ensure calls are more accurately placed.

“Our worldwide travel teams focus single centre and simple bookings, whilst our personalised travel team is dedicated to more complex itineraries.

“This change aims to improve our already high standards of service to our travel agent partners, who are also benefiting from the increased revenue that these higher value bookings bring.”

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