At a press conference held in Djerba, Tunisia, on Monday, during a press familiarisation trip to the North African destination, Alberto Kunkel, Vice President Sales and Marketing for LuxairTours, revealed that bookings for the tour operator are up 8% across the board compared to the same time last year.

With bookings for Greece up 24%, Spain and Portugal up 17% (particularly for the Algarve), Croatia and Bulgaria up 18%, North African bookings are showing significant recovery following the security alert in 2015. Figures for Morocco are up 46% while bookings are up 82% for Tunisia, all compared to 2016 figures from late March.

But not all destinations are showing an increase - bookings for the Canaries are down 8% primarily due to significant increases in hotel prices following years of steady growth.

The tour operator has added three nee destinations this year, with Biarritz (France), Alicante (Spain) and Bari (Italy) now offering customers additional choice in destinations.

LuxairTours has also relaunched two destinations this summer: Hurghada in Egypt, for which they already have 3,800 bookings; and Tunisia where they have been flying since 1987. Re the latter, LuxairTours has recently increased capacity with the addition of a fifth flight weekly using one of its 186-seat Boeing 737-800 planes. And all the hotels they use in Djerba are 4- and 5-star.

While prior to 2011, LuxairTours were flying 30,000 people to Tunisia annually, their target for 2017 on their road to recovery is 25,000. While LuxairTours is currently just flying to Djerba, they have plans to return to Enfidha in 2018.

One special offer currently being promoted by LuxairTours for Djerba is €740 for one week half-board, staying at the 5-star Hastrubal Thalassa & Spa Djerba hotel, flight included. For full details, see www.luxairtours.lu

Photo (L-R): Alberto Kunkel; Lidia Mele, VP Sales LuxairTours