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Sweden gives green light to Egypt travel

Sweden's foreign ministry lifted its advisory against travel to tourist resorts on Egypt's Red Sea coast late on Monday.

Sweden gives green light to Egypt travel

However, the ministry continues to discourage Swedes from embarking on non-essential travel to other parts of the country.

Separately, Swedish tour operators have no plans to resume cancelled departures before the end of April as announced earlier this month.

“We advise against non-essential travel to Egypt except to tourist resorts. In those areas, we see that order has been restored,” Joakim Larsson of the ministry’s press office told news agency TT late on Monday.

The ministry defines “non-essential travel” as tourism and visiting friends. The previous warning advising against “all travel” also included business travel.

“We are always conducting an ongoing evaluation of the security situation. When we judge that there is permanent order, we will conduct a reassessment,” said Larsson.

Swedish tour operators contacted by TT reiterated that they have no plans to resume interrupted trips. Apollo had previously cancelled all trips to Egypt until the end of April.

“The ministry does not change anything for us at the present time. We could possibly arrange a few trips a little earlier in April, but no decision has been made,” said communications director Kajsa Moström.

Detur has cancelled all trips for the season following the earlier advice from the ministry. There is no indication that they will resume departures anytime soon.

“We have just refunded all the money to customers. It is not as easy as just taking a flight there and back,” said Viveca Bjorkman, marketing manager at Detur.

Earlier, Solresor had also decided to cancel trips for the season and will probably not start up again immediately following the decision.

“There are still advisories against Cairo and Luxor and they are a big part of the journey,” said communications director Pauline Berndtsson.

Fritidsresor will resume trips during the summer season starting at Easter. Ving will continue with its previous plans and resumes flights to Egypt on May 2nd.

The Swedish embassy in Cairo encourages Swedish citizens still in the country to register their presence by email or telephone.

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TRAVEL NEWS

It’s icy out there: what you can expect on the drive home from Christmas

Sweden’s state forecaster SMHI is warning of slippery ice, or ishalka on Tuesday, on the roads in central Sweden, with several trucks careering off the road overnight.

It's icy out there: what you can expect on the drive home from Christmas

According to SMHI, several stretchesof road likely to see heavy traffic after Christmas are affected by the icy connections, with the E4 motorway between Södertälje and Jönköping, stretches between the coast of Bohuslän north of Gothenburg, and the E18 between Örebro and Stockholm all with several slippery patches. 

Dalarna meanwhile will see heavy snowfall, with about 15cm of new snow falling on Monday night. 

On Monday night, a truck came off Route 55 south of Strångsjö in Katrineholm municipality late, while another was forced to stop due to slippage. 

The accident has since prevented the road from being gritted, because the stopped lorry blocked the salt-spreading truck, and then the salt truck broke down.

“A new one is on the way but it is not here yet,” Priya Eklund, a spokesperson for the police told TT at 10am on Tuesday. 

Another vehicle has gone off the road on the same stretch, but it is still unclear what happened. Traffic is currently at a standstill and many are stuck in queues.

On Tuesday morning, two trucks then collided on the E20 at Kumla outside Örebro in the direction of Gothenburg. The road is expected to be closed until 1pm, according to the Swedish Transport Administration website.

A lorry driver has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence in traffic, drunk driving and drug offences after driving into police and rescue vehicles at an accident scene on the E4 outside Jönköping on Monday evening, Sweden’s state broadcaster SR reported.

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