However, as Financial News notes, domestic tour operators did not appreciate the Egyptians' impulse - they believe that the magnet for tourists will not be half-empty planes, but a quality leisure industry that has yet to be created in El Alamein.
For our tourist market, Egypt's Mediterranean resorts, including El Alamein, are still a novelty. Despite its rich historical heritage (during World War II, the area of El Alamein saw the largest battle of the 8th British Army under General Montgomery, who inflicted a heavy defeat on the Italo-German forces), Egypt's Mediterranean coast is significantly less popular than the Red Sea resorts, the leader of which is Sharm el-Sheikh.
In early March, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism seriously took up popularizing El Alamein among tour operators. The essence of its proposed program is that from mid-March to the end of June, all losses from unfilled charters (in the tourism community these are also called 'burned seats') will be compensated to companies. The amount of compensation will depend on flight duration. To avoid getting burned on compensation, Cairo intends to fully support the new resort in marketing terms. Said Nofal, head of Egypt's Ministry of Tourism office in Russia, said his agency is preparing an extensive advertising campaign to promote this resort. The official refused to specify its scope and format.
The decision to compensate tour operators for 'burned seats' was considered innovative by the industry. And it has already attracted a number of Western travel companies. The first planes with holidaymakers from the UK and Italy landed in El Alamein this past Monday.
However, domestic travel agents are not yet in a hurry to take the bait of the generous Egyptian authorities. 'The only drawback of this resort is that the choice of hotel base is too small, just three hotels,' notes Imran Nazarov, CEO of Dip Tour. 'If the number of hotels at least matched the resorts of Antalya, this resort could compete with Turkish ones.'