Do you think it will be safe to visit Tunisia next year?

Simon Calder answers your questions on north Africa risks, December in Malaga, and why non-stop flights to a certain US city cost a fortune

Tunisia was placed on a ‘no-go’ list for two years after a terror attack in 2015 (Getty)

Q We like to plan ahead for our extended family summer holiday: my daughter says having it booked gets her through the winter. We are looking at booking an all-inclusive hotel in Tunisia for 2024. Do you think it will be safe?

Deborah B

A Anticipation is a valuable element of planning a holiday, and the further ahead you book the more you benefit. So committing almost a year in advance can be a wise decision. Your choice of destination is also shrewd: Tunisia is a beautiful, fascinating and friendly nation, with excellent beach resorts on the east coast. Personally, I would not holiday there in July or August because of the intense heat: the Met Office says the average daily high in both months is above 34C. But I recognise that some like it hotter than I do.

Now, to tackle the risks: I must point out that in 2015 Tunisia was the location for two terrorist attacks aimed at tourists. The deadliest was in June that year, in which 30 British tourists and eight other people were killed by a lone gunman.

The UK government put Tunisia on the “no-go” list, effectively banning package holidays to the North African country for two years. Since tourism from Britain resumed, there has been no repeat of the carnage. But the Foreign Office warns: “Terrorists are still very likely to try to carry out further attacks in Tunisia, including against UK and Western interests.” It adds that “areas where foreign nationals and tourists are known to gather may be at higher risk of attack”.

You can book a family package holiday for 2024 in Tunisia knowing that if the security situation deteriorates so much ahead of the trip that the Foreign Office warns against travel, holiday firms will cancel bookings and issue full refunds.

One more controllable risk that I must highlight: road travel, which is much more dangerous in Tunisia than in the UK. If you are making excursions, for example from the lovely resort of Hammamet to the alluring capital, Tunis, take the train rather than a taxi or rental car.

Malaga is 15 degrees closer to the equator than, say, Birmingham, with a wealth of culture and gastronomy (Getty/iStock)

Q When is the best time, in your opinion, to book a flight between Christmas and new year to go to Malaga?

Ellen B

A Judging from the number of questions I am getting about the festive season, the summer definitely seems behind us. For something sunny to look forward to, the days between Christmas and new year make excellent timing for a quick escape to the Costa del Sol. Malaga is 15 degrees closer to the equator than, say, Birmingham, with a wealth of culture and gastronomy, and fares are generally low in the final week in December.

An initial check on Skyscanner shows a range of flights under £150 return from London Gatwick to Malaga, flying out on Boxing Day and coming back on New Year’s Eve. Competition on that particular route is intense, with British Airways, easyJet, Vueling and Wizz Air all after your business. Fares from other UK airports are higher: the cheapest I can see from Birmingham to Malaga is £194 return, and from Leeds Bradford £206 return, both on Ryanair. From Bristol, easyJet looks a bargain at £166 return.

In your position, I would book now. Late October may see fares fall a little: at about eight weeks out, if sales are sluggish, airlines often cut prices to stimulate the market. But given the extremely high fares that have prevailed in the past couple of months between the UK and the Mediterranean, it is probably more likely that prices will increase relentlessly; on Thursday this week, coming back from Malaga to London Heathrow, the lowest fare is £784, one way – showing the scale of the potential downside.

If you want a couple of extra days, flying out on Christmas Day itself and back on New Year’s Day is currently £208 return on easyJet from Gatwick to Malaga. But travelling out any earlier or returning any later sends the price soaring: Gatwick to Malaga on 24 December, back on 2 January, is over £300 return on easyJet – more than double the Boxing Day-to-New Year’s Day option.

Most people who fly non-stop to Atlanta are there for business rather than pleasure (AFP/Getty)

Q Can you please explain why Atlanta is so much more expensive to fly to from the UK than other cities in the US? Some flights from the UK to the west coast actually fly via Atlanta for less cash.

Fred W

A Atlanta has always been something of an outlier in terms of good deals on return flights from the UK. As you say, it is annoying to find that flights via Atlanta to another destination in the US are significantly cheaper than using exactly the same transatlantic flights to get to and from Atlanta. I have just checked flights out on 1 September for a week on the Virgin Atlantic and British Airways websites and found some extraordinary figures. For a non-stop return flight from London Heathrow, the lowest quote from both airlines is £1,453. Yet with Virgin Atlantic and its partner Delta, for an extra 1,900 miles of air travel each way to and from San Diego, California, you pay just £580 return. I had to double-check that the Atlanta fare is 150 per cent higher.

This is an extreme example – but why should this pattern prevail? Partly because you should expect to pay a premium for the privilege of a non-stop flight: that London Heathrow to San Diego non-stop on British Airways is £795, more than one-third more expensive than the Virgin/Delta one-stop. But I think the main reason is that London-Atlanta is overwhelmingly a business route. Evidently, some companies are prepared to pay disproportionately high fares. With precious little tourism traffic to Atlanta, the airlines see little incentive to cut prices on point-to-point fares to the city. They can fill the remaining economy seats with connecting passengers: Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world, so there are endless options.

The last time I can remember Atlanta featuring on an airline’s ultra-low flight offers was in the 1990s, with a single British Airways promotion in the low £200s. I bought it and explored the Georgia state capital, from the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr to the High Museum of Art and (weird) World of Coca-Cola. I will gladly return, but not for a fare of £1,453. Instead, I expect to pay about £600 return with a change of planes at a city such as Charlotte or Philadelphia – and build in a stopover at the transit point for no extra charge.

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