“Previously these destinations have performed strongly whenever Kenya has
suffered, as customers switched to another area. This time, however, the
current issues appear to be affecting demand across Eastern and Southern
Africa.”
The long-haul specialist also reported that bookings for the Caribbean have
risen, while Egypt’s recovery – following a year of revolution and violent
protests – remains slow.
It said that bookings to the Caribbean were up by 37 per cent overall, and by
800 per cent to the Dominican Republic. This comes despite fears over the
impact of Air Passenger Duty – which is said to unfairly penalise Britons
flying to the Caribbean. The research is supported by the Post Office, which
recently reported an increase in sales of the Barbados dollar (+12 per cent
since last year) and the Trinidad and Tobago dollar (+22 per cent).
Although sales of packages to Egypt are up by 110 per cent since this time
last year, Hayes & Jarvis said this was below expectations, and a reflection
of how badly the country suffered in the aftermath of last year’s revolution.
“Despite plenty of excellent offers for Egypt throughout the last 12 months,
it is only in the last month that we have seen any signs of a positive
reaction in the market,” said Mr Alobaidi. “It will still take time for
Egypt to win back business to the levels it enjoyed in 2010.”
It added that sales of holidays to Mexico have risen by 258 per cent since
2010, when British Airways launched direct flights to Cancun, while bookings
to Sri Lanka have fallen by 43 per cent.