AKTG reports continued demand for Egypt amid Middle East conflict

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group (AKTG) has reported continued demand for Egypt despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

 

The operator was in “record sales growth” for the destination prior to the conflict, which began on February 28, with Egypt the second-most popular country for British A&K clients in 2025.

 

Chief trade sales officer Debra Fox said while demand for Egypt had obviously dipped, AKTG was still seeing growth compared to 2025.

 

She said: “We don’t have that insatiable growth that we had pre-February 28, but, crazily enough, we still have growth on 2025, so the bookings are still coming through at a higher rate than last year. Not at the heady rate [we saw previously]; it’s more conservative growth, but that’s a [clear] sign of the resilience of the UK traveller.”

She added: “The other thing we’re seeing now is some of our guests, while they’re travelling in Egypt, are making a last-minute decision to fly into Amman, go down to Petra for a couple of days and then come back to Egypt again.

 

“They’re playing it by ear and our team are organising for them to do that. It’s only small numbers, but I think it shows a confidence and behaviour as well.”

 

Fox said while the group had been forced to cancel, suspend or amend certain touring schedules in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman, Egypt remained “completely unaffected” operationally.

 

“We still have hundreds of people on the ground in Egypt going really well,” she said.

 

“We want to continue to share what’s happening on the ground [there], how much our guests are enjoying it, and [for customers] to really consider continuing to make plans for Egypt at some stage as well, because it really is quite an incredible region.”

 

She added: “The FCDO advice hasn’t changed - it’s equal to Italy, Germany, France and it’s an extraordinary place. I do think we owe it to the country, the people and all parts of travel and tourism to really help uplift and continue the focus on Egypt and for all operators to really help drive and continue to support business there.”

 

Fox said the operator also hadn’t seen any “drop off” in demand for Morocco.

 

AKTG had around 1,000 guests from the UK impacted by the disruption in the Middle East at the outset. Every guest was contacted and supported on an individual basis by AKTG’s crisis support teams and by March 6, the operator had all guests repatriated out of the Gulf and Jordan region.

 

More than 90% of AKTG’s clients have decided to postpone or rebook rather than cancel.

 

Clients have predominantly transferred their holidays to Africa, while South America, Asia and Europe are also proving popular. Fox said AKTG - which includes Abercrombie & Kent, Cox & Kings, cruise line Crystal and African lodge network A&K Sanctuary – benefitted from having “instant access” and control over availability.

 

Asked about consumer confidence, she said the UK and Australian markets were “leading the way as far as resilience goes”.

 

“Australia and the UK are very similar when we look at those two main markets for us - very resilient, experienced, confident travellers,” she said.

 

“The market that would be slightly different is LATAM [Latin America]; they respond quite differently. They prefer to hold off, so most of that market is going into a credit scenario – they’re not cancelling outright, but they’re waiting and seeing so they’re responding on a much more conservative basis.

 

“The US is a mixed bag, because they get mixed messages coming through and a few scare tactics as well as the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] situation at the moment, so you’ve got super resilient and you’ve got more conservative [travellers].”

 

Fox said airspace restrictions remained one of AKTG’s “top challenges”, with much of the operator’s time spent on the “administration and maintenance” of current guest bookings as well as managing upcoming travel into the Middle East region.

 

“We’re working in a dedicated forum up to the end of April," she said. "Anyone outside of that, we’re working with them on a case-by-case basis. We’ve got a couple of different options for the guest, depending on what their concern is or what their needs are and depending if it’s air related or confidence related. There’s no firm and fast outcome. It’s ‘let’s look at what we advise and what we can offer’.”