THE past few years have witnessed meticulous and large-scale state efforts to reinvigorate the tourism industry and enable the tourism sector to overcome the adverse effects of the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Underlying such efforts has been a national strategy to maximise the tourism sector’s contribution to the growth of the national economy especially in terms of revenues and the creation of new job opportunities in addition to supporting the achievement of comprehensive and sustainable development. In the foremost of these efforts came the recent opening of the renovated Luxor’s Sphinx Avenue, the inauguration earlier this year of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation following a fascinating Golden Parade to move ancient royal mummies to their new and modern resting place and the intensive engineering and fitting works now under way to complete the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).
Over the past two years, the state has in line with its strategy to bolster the tourism sector’s potentials forwarded a series of initiatives and measures to support this sector, upgrading the efficiency of the tourism sector’s infrastructure and introducing a string of health precautionary measures to maximise the health safety of hotels and tourist accommodations. And lately, domestic flights have been planned by the national carrier to connect Upper Egypt with the Red Sea resorts, thereby offering tourists fast travel to and from the rich treasures of ancient civilisation monuments in the south of the country and the captivating beaches and enthralling marine life attractions in the Red Sea.
It was this background that Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled Anani invoked during a get together with leading tour organisers and chambers of commerce and industry in Madrid last Friday on the sidelines of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s Executive Council and General Assembly meetings. Participation in UNWTO events and the get together with travel and tourism businesses acquired special relevance to Egypt’s drive to position its huge tourism potentials high on the world map particularly now that the country is readying to celebrate in the course of next year three remarkable occasions of profound historical and cultural value for Egypt as well as for the world: the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Tutankhamen Tomb, the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of hieroglyphics and the finalisation of the GEM project.
For Egyptologists, Egyptian civilisation fans and the intellectual community worldwide, the unearthing of King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the year 1922 is recognised as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time while the Rosetta Stone decipherment is valued ashumanity’s first and essential key to learning ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics, thereby enabling scholars and archaeologists to read and understand the inscriptions on monuments. And GEM project’s finalisation will make it possible for tourists and visitors to view in one museum as many as 100,000 artifacts put on display with the use of the latest technological aides.
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