Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister chaired a meeting of the Grand Egyptian Museum’s board on Wednesday, where members gave initial approval to study converting an annex building into a hotel and endorsed raising entrance fees from November 1, the ministry said.
Board members also discussed a plan to activate the museum’s training centre, with the minister urging a focus on “highly specialised” programmes to boost the institution’s competitiveness and reinforce Egypt’s standing internationally in training, conservation and archaeology.
Among other decisions, the board approved in principle a request to build a mobile-network signal tower to improve coverage in and around the museum, while stressing that technical and financial committees must ensure the site does not affect visual sightlines to the museum and the Giza Pyramids area.
The board also agreed to renew a memorandum of understanding between the GEM and the Tokyo National Museum, and approved accepting gifts presented to the museum during official visits, along with studying a proposal to create a dedicated hall to display donations.
From November 1, entrance tickets will rise by $5 for foreign visitors and by LE20 for Egyptian visitors, the statement said.
