Several local travel firms have cancelled tours to Egypt during the Lunar New Year, or Tet, due to security concerns following widespread unrest in that Middle East country.

Viet Media Travel, which had earlier arranged tours for Egypt departing on February 4 and 5, canceled tours for three groups with 62 tourists.

Tran Long, director of Viet Media Travel, told the Daily on the phone that “due to the political crisis, we have to cancel all the tours there. We returned 100% of the tour prices to customers and airlines also accepted our cancellation.”

Perfect Tour Travel had also canceled tours to Egypt. Dang Ngoc My at the company’s domestic and outbound department told the Daily that the company had canceled the tour planned for a group of 30 tourists to the Middle East country departing during Tet.

Similarly, Vietravel had also informed its customers of the canceled tour previously scheduled to begin on February 4.

“We’ve phoned customers to announce our cancellation to that country, and we have returned money to our guests,” said an executive at the tour operator.

Every month, Vietravel opens a tour to Egypt but due to the political unrest there, the company has now stopped the program.

“When the country’s political situation turns stable, our company will reopen these tours to Egypt,” said Le Hong Viet Thao, media executive of Vietravel.

Tour operators are keeping a close eye on the crisis in Egypt, and all said they do not know when they can restart tour programs to the country home to many pyramids.

Egypt is in the high season for tourism which lasts until May, but many international airlines and tour operators have stopped their services taking tourists to the Middle East country. The political problem over the past two weeks reportedly costs the country US$310 million per day.