09/13/2020
Another significant branch of Egypt’s tourism industry is resuming operations: in October, cruise lines on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan restart, between which cruise ships are resumed. Or, as cruise ships are called in Egypt itself, floating hotels. The decision to open Nile cruises was made by the country’s tourism authorities in an attempt to reopen cultural tourism in Egypt amid tough COVID-19 precautions.
According to Tarwat al-Agami, chairman of the Luxor Chamber of Tourism, the resumption of tourism at a crucial time before the start of winter gives hope to everyone. In turn, cruise floating hotels are currently working to obtain the certifications required in the «post-like» era. As confirmed by the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, by October they should receive certificates and will be able to work at 50% load.
In total, there are 130 floating hotels in Luxor and Aswan. At the initial stage, work will resume from 30 to 50 liners and in general, the return of tourism will be gradual. By the way, as Mr. Agami said, there is already a demand for tourists — requests have been received from Spain and Japan.
At the same time, the leaders of the provinces of Luxor and Aswan have submitted a petition to extend the «Spend the Summer in Upper Egypt» initiative, which was launched by the Ministry to promote tourism in the region. It also offers a 50% discount on the cost of tickets for foreign visitors to museums and archaeological sites. The leadership calls for an extension until December.
At the same time, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has warned of an increase in inspection campaigns at hotels and archaeological sites in the coming months. The main goal is to make sure that the locations adhere to the precautions and safety measures taken by the government.
This will be really useful, because the first coronavirus was brought to Egypt by tourists traveling along the Nile on a cruise ship. Then it was a group of Chinese travelers: it all started with the fact that an American tourist of Chinese origin was diagnosed with a coronavirus after her return from Egypt to Taiwan. Egyptian authorities then immediately interrupted a cruise on the same ship, quarantining the entire ship with 101 tourists on board and an Egyptian crew. After taking the naliz, it turned out that 35 people managed to get sick with coronavirus on the ship. This whole story happened at the very beginning of March 2020. And in order to prevent the import and spread of coronavirus in Egypt, and even more so in resorts — in Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, the authorities of the Country of the Pyramids took unprecedented tough measures: read about this in the article «How Egypt was cleaned from the Chinese in 48 hours: an eyewitness story» …
Now the situation with coronavirus in Egypt is even better than in Russia: at the time of September 15, there are 10,547 patients with coronavirus, which, with a population of Egypt of 100 million people, means only 10 patients per 100 thousand people 100 000).
It can be assumed that it is for this reason that the Egyptian Ambassador to Russia announced the restoration of tourism: «tours to Egypt will become the most popular for Russian tourists»
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