Hurghada, Red Sea Riviera

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dbar
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Location: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

Post by dbar »

I am told that it depends on the hotel, and to some extent the location.

Theoretically, the beaches in Naama are "open", but in some cases that means for paddling only. Other hotels have just moved their buoys closer to the shore and allow limited snorkelling. Some have shark watch towers.......

Pretty sure the beaches at Old Market (Terrazina etc) are open (but poor for snorkelling). Sharks Bay, White Knight & Nabq beaches are mostly closed. Not sure about Tiran Island, or Ras Mohammed.

Diving is very restricted if that's your thing - you must have logged at least 50 hours and go as part of an organised party with lookouts on the boat and a dive master on the lookout in the water.

Further up the coast in Dehab and beyond there are fewer restriction.

All the above is subject to change of course - but I doubt the restrictions will be lifted soon. I have it on good authority that the local government has started to take steps to ensure safety (compulsory watch towers at every hotel, boat patrols, regular dives by dive masters slightly further out to sea etc.). However, this being Egypt, I can't see any of it being enforced.

Be aware there have been lots more shark attacks than have been reported in the UK press - the last one was on Jan 7th, plus two more in late December.

Bit of a downer really. I went in early December and didn't go near the sea.

Enjoy your holiday though - still plenty to do. Which hotel are you staying in?

E2A The beaches themselves are open - and if you do want to snorkel, and your hotel doesnt allow it, try El Fanar in Hadaba. Its a pay only beach, not associated with a hotel, but has the best snorkelling in Sharm. Not sure its open though.
David
dbar
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Location: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

Post by dbar »

Just had an update from Sharm if you are interested Big Sis.

Most of the diving restrictions have been lifted - shore diving is now allowed in some designated areas (Naama, Old Market, Ras Um Sid, certain parts of Ras Mohammed)

There is nothing mentioned about snorkelling, so I presume the restrictions have been lifted too.

Have a nice holiday
David
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Ow Thanks Dbar very helpful and detailed.......so nice of you too take the time, appreciate it :)

Makes me smile about Sharks Bay cos thats where we stayed when we first went a few years back.
Hubby said Im not sure about swimming.....
I said dont be daft and he said'' Why do you think they call it Sharks Bay'' .....We laughed at the time :roll:

Im sure I will have a great time. :D Take care, Rosxx
tazmaniandevil
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Hello from WET Wales

Post by tazmaniandevil »

Hi,
Hopefully we can increase this section by more posts and adding 1001 reasons to visit our rental homes and country!
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hurghadasun
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Post by hurghadasun »

Well, after the "uprising" in Cairo, enquiries seem to have fallen off for some reason :roll: however, Hurghada and the Red Sea in general are reletively quiet, a small increase in security and a few tanks guarding the government buildings but no riots and shops now open etc. Our contacts there say that planes are still bringing in the tourists. Be interesting to see if the trend continues or if the tourists find elsewhere to go :cry: Still, on the bright side, we shan't have to replace stolen towels, tea cloths and broken glasses :D
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dbar
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Location: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

Post by dbar »

Pretty much the same in Sharm - page views of my ads were increasing steadily, and had a couple of bookings, and then BANG - totally dead.

Sharm itself is fine - banks have re-opened, usual number of police around, no demos, petrol a bit short but thats about it.

Heard today that Jet2 have just cancelled all flights to Sharm from the end of the month until November.

Its such a shame - most reports that I have heard are that most of the other flights from the UK have been full.

I feel sorry for the locals - there have already been layoffs at some of the hotels, which seem to be around 30-50% full (all British, as nobody else is allowed to go).

I hope it all changes soon - I personally know several families in Egypt who cannot survive without the income of the one family member who works in Sharm, and most of that is tips. No tourists = No tips = No food
David
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hurghadasun
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Post by hurghadasun »

I don’t know what percentage of the Red Sea tourist market Jet 2 has, not as much as Thompson or Thomas Cook I would think. I think if either of these two decided to bale out, that would cause us some concern although most of our bookings are from mainland Europe and USA. Obviously we have to think about what to do if the worst happens and the country plunges into civil war (worst case scenario) however, I don’t think this will happen <touches wood>.
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dbar
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Location: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

Post by dbar »

Jet2 operate out of northern regional UK airports in the main, so a few of my guests have used them in the past. Not big compared to the other carriers, but two flights per week from eight airports none the less. More annoying is the fact that guests will have to travel further in the UK to catch their flights now.

Most of my guests are either UK or Europe - interesting to hear that you get US ones, Can I ask, do you advertise, and if so what site gets the best US bookings?

I only advertise on holidaylettings, and was doing quite well for my first year (about 75% booked for March 2010 to Dec 2010). As I said, mainly Birts (80%), with the rest bar one from Europe.
David
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hurghadasun
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Post by hurghadasun »

I only use one paid for ad site which is Homelidays. I used them last year for free and got 6 bookings with them. This year so far 3. I advertise on free sites world wide including the USA, all the USA ones are direct from our website, Hurghada+sun+apartment seems quite high on Google, we average about 6 hits a day 3-5 enquiries a month. Don't know if that is good but it seems to keep us ticking over.
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hurghadasun
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Hurghada

Post by hurghadasun »

Well it's been 7 years since my last post regarding Hurghada. We still have the apartment and are still renting it out although numbers have dropped off due to the massive increase of all inclusive hotels. These do the locals no favors whatsoever as the reps from the hotels are telling their guests not to go out of the hotels, they say it's dangerous and one actually told some guest that "if you go out of the hotel, the tourist police will arrest you"!!

Other problems these days are the flight prices from the UK, exaggerated reports of terrorism in the papers and TV, although tourism is definitely on the up.
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