Egypt: Is it still safe to travel?

Government travel advisories to Egypt have been stepped up and tourists' movements restricted as the crisis in Cairo and other cities continues.

Today Germany extended its advice against Egypt travel to include the Red Sea beach resorts around Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh, according to the Arabic broadcaster LBCI. These areas have been largely immune from the unrest of recent months and foreign governments have tended to advise that they are safe.

Yesterday, the government of Hong Kong also raised its travel warning, to "black," urging against all travel to Egypt.

On Wednesday night, following the day of violence in Cairo during which more than 500 people died, vacationers in Hurghada had letters posted through their hotel bedroom doors telling them to stay within the hotel grounds and that all excursions had been canceled, the TravelMole website reported.
The lockdown was over today, according to reports. One traveler posting on a Hurghada TripAdvisor forum, under the name Sally_Asling, said: "In the hotel it feels safe and we are having a fab holiday."

The warnings to tourists and updated travel advisories follow clashes in Cairo on Wednesday in which hundreds of people were killed as government security forces, in some cases reportedly using bulldozers, dispersed sit-ins by supporters of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsy.

U.S. and British travel advisories on Egypt remain basically unchanged. The U.S. State Department continues to urge its citizens to leave Egypt, if they can. Any remaining in the country should monitor local media for updates on the unrest, it says.

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The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to advise against travel to Egypt, except the Red Sea resorts. It notes that a man was killed this week in clashes in the city of Hurghada, although away from tourist areas.