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Operators warned not to cut back on North Africa flights

Operators and airlines have been urged not to axe flights to North African and Middle East countries affected by political unrest.


The call came from the Middle East and North Africa Travel Association (Menata) as Thomas Cook dropped one of its planned twice-weekly summer flights to Tunisia from Glasgow and all flights to the country from Leeds/Bradford, Norwich and Belfast airports.


Tui Travel is also cancelling parts of its planned summer programmes to Tunisia,


Menata executive director Peter Lilley said:  “Even quite modest cutbacks in capacity can potentially undermine consumer confidence as it may give the impression that Tunisia has not fully recovered. 


“It also, rather perversely, makes the destination more difficult to book for some holidaymakers who do want to go.”


He said it was important to quash the perception that the whole Arab tourism world was in turmoil.


“Since bookings to Tunisia have been quite slow to bounce back, it’s understandable that tour operators have had to consider cutting capacity,” he said. “With wafer-thin profit margins on many holidays, operators simply cannot afford to operate half-empty aircraft.


“On the other hand, if customers find they are unable to fly direct from their local airport, there’s a good chance they will book to go elsewhere.
 
“I suspect there are plenty of holidaymakers, particularly those with families, just looking for an excuse to tell themselves that 2011 is probably not the best year to go to an Arab holiday destination and it would be better to play safe and opt for a European resort instead.
 
“Many Arab tourist destinations including Dubai and Morocco have continued operating as normal.”

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