British tourists ready to defy terror fears for cheap breaks

THOUSANDS of British tourists are preparing to take advantage of cutprice holiday bargains at resorts in the Middle East and North Africa, despite the threat of further terrorist attacks.

Holiday companies have slashed the price of package deals to resorts in Egypt and Tunisia, where dozens of tourists were killed this year during attacks by Islamist terrorists.

Despite Foreign Office advice to tourists not to travel to those regions, a source at Thomson said: “There is interest among customers for these deals.”

The Foreign Office says it does not believe there is “adequate protection for British tourists in Tunisia”. But that has not stopped Thomas Cook advertising holidays to be taken after April 30 near Monastir, less than 20 miles from the site where 30 Britons died in June.

An all-inclusive package for seven nights, including flights and transfers, is available from £313 per person – a 34 per cent discount. But the location has not deterred people.

In a Trip Advisor review written after the attack, one British woman said she would be happy to go back, while a reviewer from Lancaster who this month stayed at the Hotel Marhaba – the scene of the attacks in June – said he had already booked a return visit.

It is a similar picture in Sharm elSheikh, where the Foreign Office advises against using the airport after a Russian jet was downed last month.

First Choice is selling a week there for £576 per person, all-inclusive. One Briton wrote on Trip Advisor: “We felt safe … and we will return again.”

TUI Travel, which runs Thomson and First Choice, has extended the cancellation period for holidays to Sharm el-Sheikh and Tunisia to March 22.

The firm said: “Customers affected by this will be able to change their holiday to any of our destinations currently on sale, without incurring an amendment fee, or receive a full refund.”