Egyptian hotel bosses launch desperate offensive to lure back Brits… with amazing deals for just £3-a-night
Bargain-hunting Brits can find cheap deals at trendy hotels near ISIS' desert lair
TERROR-hit Egyptian hotel bosses have launched a desperate “Sharm offensive” to lure back British tourists - offering amazing deals for as little as £3-a-night.
Bargain-hunting Brits can bag a seven-night stay at the sumptuous five-star Radisson Blu Resort in Sharm el-Sheikh from £18-a-night, starting this week.
Just £23-a-night will get trippers into the swish five star Renaissance Hotel with stunning views of the Red Sea.
And ridiculous £3-a-night deals are being offered to holidaymakers venturing to the trendy Deep Blue Diver’s hostel in Dahab – nearer the desert lair of Islamic State.
Prices crashed when direct flights from the UK were banned over Sharm airport security failures after 224 passengers died in an ISIS bomb attack on a Russian Metrojet fight in October.
But the market has now gone into meltdown after last month's suspected terror strike on an EgyptAir Airbus in which 66 more passengers were killed on a flight from Paris.
The Sun team were the only Britons staying in the sumptuous Sunrise Arabian Beach Resort in Sharks Bay in Sharm - and were given a rapturous welcome by staff.
We were offered rooms with two king size beds, balcony and sea view at the immaculate half empty hotel complete with spa, private beach and selection of pools - for £33-a-night.
Upgrading to £41-a-night covered all meals including free booze and a la carte dining in the vast hotel complex’s smart restaurants.
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Cries of “My God you are British! Welcome home!” and “We missed you!” went up from excited staff as we checked in.
And we encountered no Westerners whatsoever later on a stroll through empty streets normally teeming with UK travellers soaking up sunshine and cheap booze.
Row upon row of sun loungers lay empty on the beach as staff at seafront bars struggling to stay open implored us to come in.
Camels which once offered tourist rides stood idly grazing on rubbish from bins in the once bustling market district.
Bars and clubs normally full of British ravers were closed, empty or populated solely by Arab tourists sipping soft drinks.
A bouncer on the door of the cavernous Pascha Club told us: “You’re the only Brits we've seen here in ages.
“The English are normally our best customers and business is very bad now they’re gone.
“We’ve closed the big room here and Arab customers use our smaller one – but it’s not the same.”
The clubbing scene has also crashed across town at the vast Space Club – which was living up to its name amid the tourist trade gloom.
A quarter of the brash Red Sea resort’s 400 hotels have closed since the crash and hundreds of thousands of staff have been laid off.
A million Britons a year used to visit - but only a few dozen intrepid travellers were believed to be dotted around the sprawling sun-baked metropolis.
Hesham Gabr, boss of Sharm’s Camel Dive Club and Hotel said his business slumped by 50 per cent after the loss of British clients owing to the UK flight ban.
He is now giving away a week’s stay for free worth £560, provided customers buy a five day scuba diving package for £240.
Holidaymakers will have to pay around £350 on indirect flights via Cairo or other European cities to reach the Red Sea resort.
Mr Gabr said: “Sharm el-Shiekh is safe and better value than ever – we want our British friends to come back.
“There has never been a better time to come here and take advantage of these prices.
“I’ve had to cut the salary of my staff by 35 per cent to stay afloat but we are still optimistic that the business will come back.
“I’ve been running this hotel for 34 years and we have had terror attacks many times but we always turn things around – and we will do it again.”
Bar worker Dorothy Guidotti, 36, said: “Around 90 per cent of our customers used to be British but now they’re gone it obviously has a big impact.
“We showed the England v Turkey match live in the bar the other day and it was odd seeing not a single English customer watching the game.
“British people still love it here and I’m sure they’ll be back when it’s easier for them to get here.
“And if they come sooner they’ll get fantastic deals.”
Sharm el-Sheikh lies in a heavily guarded, secure pocket of Red Sea coast 600 miles south of the ISIS-infested badlands of Egypt’s Sinai Desert.
But it has not been immune from the upheaval of recent years following the ousting of strongman president Hosni Mubarak then Muslim Brotherhood hardliner Mohamed Morsi.
And The Sun’s Sharm team encountered the sinister tactics of new military strongman Abdel Fateh al-Sisi – who has locked up a string of foreign journalists since seizing power in 2014.
Photographer Paul Edwards and I – having both sought permission to work in Egypt through the British Embassy in Cairo – were pounced upon by four plain clothed armed police.
They bundled us into a taxi and ordered it to speed away while refusing to show ID or say where we were going – sparking fears we were being kidnapped.
We were ferried to the tourist police station and ordered to stop work and leave the resort after two hours of interrogation.
A local told us: “Police are very jumpy here and you stood out because you’re the only British people here.
“They don’t like foreign journalists writing anything negative and wanted to know what you were doing here.
“I can only apologise for our policemen. Rest assured that’s not the welcome most British people can expect.”