(Photo by Thoraia Abou Bakr)
The German foreign ministry issued a travel warning for the entire Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday 26 February and in response several major travel agencies sent extra planes to repatriate the tourists from the different coastal cities in the area.
One day later the Dutch foreign ministry followed suit, citing that a credible threat existed for the airspace above the Sinai Peninsula. At the time, around 1,000 Dutch citizens were enjoying a vacation in Sharm El Sheikh and other cities, and on Friday extra planes were chartered to bring them home.
Both the German and Dutch ministries have advised against non-essential travel to Egypt with an exception for the resorts on the African Red Sea coast and the southern touristic sites of Luxor and Aswan.
Dutch vacationers who have booked trips to the Sinai have been offered the choice to change to another location either in Egypt or somewhere else or cancel their trips and be fully refunded.
