As Egypt continued to be wracked by political violence yesterday, thousands of British holidaymakers were advised to stay within the confines of their resort hotels.

While Red Sea resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh are still deemed safe to travel to by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), reports of some demonstrations in Hurghada meant holidaymakers there during the last few days have been told to stay within the grounds of their hotels.

While some holiday firms are continuing to run flights to popular Egyptian resorts, other companies in Germany and France are avoiding the area.

Speaking from her hotel in Hurghada, holidaymaker Sally Asling said that she felt safe.

"The hotel is high security and the airport is high security. It is quicker for me to get back to London than drive to Cairo. You have to keep perspective on it," she said. "There was a demonstration a mile down the road two days ago. It is unsettling hearing how quickly things become volatile and kick off. It is safe, but how safe?"

The majority of Egypt is said to be a no-go area as the Government issued advice warning Britons not to travel to popular locations such as Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria unless it is essential.

The FCO has also reiterated its warning against all travel to the north-eastern corner of the country and advised British nationals to check its travel advice and urged people to obey regulations set out by local authorities and any curfew, if they are affected.

UK travel organisation Abta estimates that around 40,000 Britons are currently in Egypt.

Thomson and First Choice have a total of 11,769 British holidaymakers in Egypt, many of them in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh and the others in neighbouring Hurghada, Taba and Marsa Alam, while Thomas Cook has several thousand UK tourists in the Red Sea resorts.

The companies said yesterday they have cancelled excursions to Cairo, Luxor, Moses Mountain and St Catherine's Monastery.

British Airways is still flying to Cairo but has adjusted its schedules to fly inside curfew times imposed by the Egyptian authorities. It is allowing passengers to rebook to Cairo or change destinations.

"We are keeping the situation in Egypt under constant review," its spokeswoman said.

"As a result of the night curfew in Cairo, we have altered our flying schedule to avoid the late evenings.

"We apologise for the inconvenience, but we will always prioritise the safety of our customers and crew.

"Customers who no longer wish to travel to Cairo can either rebook to a later date or change to another destination."

Other European countries have taken a firmer approach, with Germany advising its nationals not to travel to Egypt at all.

Some British nationals, who have arrived back in the country over the last couple of days from Cairo, said they had witnessed the violence.

"It was frightening, just because we were unable to go outside, we stayed indoors most of the time with family, but we weren't able to go into the streets or anything like that," said one British woman at Manchester airport.

"We travelled to Hurghada on a bus and then we came back to Cairo and the bus had to turn around on a bridge because there was a fire at the other end."

In a statement, the British Government has said it is "deeply concerned" about the escalating crisis in Egypt and "deplores" the latest loss of life following clashes between the Egyptian army and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.