TT. Tui Travel

The U.K. government Saturday advised against all but essential travel to the Egyptian cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez and recommended that British citizens leave those cities if it is safe to do so, but travel companies said popular tourist resorts are still unaffected and they are continuing to fly holidaymakers to the country.

Crowds of protesters were massing in central Cairo for a sixth day of angry revolt against President Hosni Mubarak's regime Sunday amid increasing lawlessness, a rising death toll and a spate of jail breaks.

However, Europe's largest travel operators, TUI Travel PLC (TT.LN) and Thomas Cook Group PLC (TCG.LN), said while they cancelled excursions to the affected cities from holiday resorts on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, customers in resorts including Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada can continue their holidays as planned.

TUI Travel's Thomson brand was advising holidaymakers in Luxor to see its local representatives for updated information and to respect local curfews, and if they are concerned about remaining in the city, to discuss with holiday advisors or the resort office.

The Red Sea resorts served by the two travel companies are well away from the cities affected by the new U.K. government advice and are served by their own airports.

"Our experienced teams on the ground assure us that no tourist areas at the Red Sea have been affected in any way by the recent demonstrations," Thomas Cook said on its website. "They are fully operational and holiday makers are continuing to enjoy these popular resorts."

"People should also take considerable reassurance from the fact that the resort of Sharm el Sheikh operates like a country in itself. It is run separately from the rest of Egypt, benefits from having just one secure road into the resort, and enjoys an exceptionally low crime rate. There is also no unemployment in Sharm el Sheikh, since those living in the resort are only there because they are employed in tourism," TUI Travel said.

Media reports in the U.K. said about 30,000 British tourists were currently in Egypt.

The updated travel advice from the British government comes as the U.S. government started organizing the evacuation of its nationals from Egypt to safehaven locations in Europe. The U.S. embassy in Cairo said U.S. nationals should call or email the State Department to make arrangements, although they would have to reimburse the cost of their charter flights.

The British government said it wouldn't be organizing special charter flights to evacuate U.K. nationals from Egypt and anyone wanting to leave would have to use commercial flights. However, U.K. commercial flights to the cities affected by the travel guidance were suffering disruptions.

Airline easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN), which flies to Luxor, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, said passengers already booked on flights to Luxor could change the date of travel for free or take a credit voucher to use on future easyJet flights. It is operating flights as normal to the two resort airports.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) British airline bmi cancelled its flights Sunday between London Heathrow and Cairo having had a flight turned back mid-air Saturday. British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) said it changed the timetable of its flights to Cairo to take account of a curfew in the city and passengers should check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport. BA's flights to Sharm El Sheikh are unaffected, the airline said.

The outbreak of violence and demonstrations in Egypt is a blow to travel operators, which earlier this month were forced to cancel all flights to and from Tunisia and evacuate all British holidaymakers in the country after the U.K. government advised against all but essential travel due to violent street protests against the now ousted president.

With that advice still in place, Thomas Cook has cancelled all flights from the U.K. to Tunisia until after Feb. 27 and TUI Travel has cancelled all flights until after Feb. 16 and is allowing customers who have already booked trips to the country up to Feb. 27 to amend their holidays for free.

-By Steve McGrath, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9284; steve.mcgrath@dowjones.com

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