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Agents are being urged to have confidence in booking Egypt again after the Foreign & Commonwealth Office relaxed its travel advice to Cairo and the Pyramids in Giza.
Specialist tour operators have now put tours back on sale after the FCO said on November 21 that it was no longer advising against travel to Cairo.
Travel warnings were put in place in July because of escalating political unrest. Resorts along the Red Sea were unaffected.
Discover Egypt was the only operator to have Nile cruises back in operation this week, while Explore and On The Go Tours announced trips would restart this month. All have promised educationals for agents in the new year, which are likely to be part-funded by the Egypt Tourism Authority.
Discover Egypt commercial director Philip Breckner said agents were still nervous about booking despite the advice change and pent-up demand.
“The problem we are having is getting agents to trust the fact we are operating when others have not gone back,” he said.
“Because we are small and flexible we can react quickly to changes in a way larger operators cannot.”
Explore sales director Carl Burrows added: “We would not go back to Egypt unless we were 100% confident it was safe.”
To encourage trade bookings, On The Go Tours is offering 25% off tours in January and February if booked and paid for by December 31.
Egyptair will resume direct Heathrow-Luxor flights on February 17. Currently, flights are via Cairo.
Operators that use a train for travel between Cairo and Luxor – which passes through the Nile Valley, a region in which the FCO advises against all but essential travel – are offering flights instead.