First of all, thank you everybody who took the time to reply with their honest opinions, and positive or negative I like to hear them all so I can get a feeling for what potential holidaymakers are thinking and possibly give them some advice on the way it really is here.
I see a clear divide in the posts above between Europeans and our cousins from across the pond in the Americas, and I do believe that this is mostly down to the media's portrayal of recent events in the region. One previous poster in this forum described Egypt as the "new Afghanistan" - and this is just ridiculous. Thousands of tourists pass between Sharm and Cairo and Dahab and Taba and Hurghada and El Gouna and Marsa Alam and El Qsir and Luxor and whereverbloody else without any inconvenience whatsoever.
Cars are not being shot at nightly in the Sinai - maybe in the little tiny town of El-Arish, which is close to the Israeli Border, and also technically located in the Sinai Peninsula - but this has been a problem for years. It's geographically not that far from Sharm, but it's a million miles away in terms of philosophy, and I do not agree at all with posts about how unsafe the Sinai has become.
Yes, there are problems. There is a fuel shortage, and our boats are running to Thistlegorm and back on diesel fumes and prayers. There has been a significant increase in "tourists touts", who sell uninsured trips for extortionate fees. Many taxi drivers are - to put it bluntly - criminals, given what they are charging for a 10 minute ride from the airport to the hotel.
Yes, there have been some kidnappings, nobody can deny that, and for sure there are problems on the roads between The South of Sinai and the North, but these are mostly internal struggles, and of no threat to regular tourism. Book through your hotels or travel agents, stick to the official tourist bit, and no worries, apart from a lot of un-necessary hassle in Na'ama Bay at night, all is well and good.
Solo female tourists - beware. There's no sugar-coating the fact that you will hear the incessant call of "sssss, sssssss, ssssss,... sex?" Taxi drivers will propose marriage and give you a free ride home in the hope that you will sleep with them. Unfortunately, a lot of foreign women in Sharm, particularly Russian ladies, are very free with their favours, shall we say, and therefore a lot of young Egyptian men here think that every woman will sleep with them for the price of a free drink. Or camel safari. Or Intro dive. Whatever.
My advice to single female travelers is to wear a ring on your wedding-finger, and use it as defense, especially if you claim to have an Egyptian husband. Verbal harassment is guaranteed, although physical contact is very rare, I do, however know of several cases where staff have been fired after being caught pleasuring themselves in the vicinity of scantily-clad women (true stories)
Otherwise, it's just business as usual. We're mega-busy and short staffed and the dive centre was chaos but nobody got shot at, or abducted or was otherwise inconvenienced. It's high season at the moment and the resort is half-full of Egyptian tourists here for the Eid festival, and also most of Germany arrived at my dive centre yesterday without letting us know in advance of their arrival!
There is still a lot of unfinished business in Egypt. Protests and marches are regular features in the news but they are confined to limited areas which can be easily avoided. Yes, I recommend travel and holiday insurance and whatknot, but I'd recommend that anyway regardless of where you are visiting.
To MrsBBC: - no I haven't asked this on YD however since you have suggested it I may very well do so!
I also agree wholeheartedly with your crticism of El Magnoon's post and with all due respect to El Magnoon, that was a piece of crap, mate. You're right, it's not predictable, and I promise you, we all feel the same way - but really, having lived here both before and after the revolution, I am not at all concerned for my security. Not one little bit.
Thanks again for all the replies, whether I agree or not,
Cheers
C.
