Tourist activities have proceeded “normally” on Monday as thousands of visitors flock to Luxor’s different archaeological sites, such as Karnak Temple, the Valleys of the Kings and Queens Bank, as well as its museums, according to Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri.
He said that tourists are enjoying Egypt’s unique heritage in Luxor’s bright sunny weather, asserting that the number of tourists are increasing.
“For example, the amount of tourists visiting Karnak Temple has exceeded similar numbers at the same time last year,” Waziri said, without giving the exact number of visitors.
Notably, 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases were detected on a Nile cruise ship traveling between Luxor and Aswan, according to Egypt’s Health Ministry on Friday. Then, on Saturday, Egypt announced 33 additional infected passengers were found onboard of the same cruise that had travelled between Aswan and Luxor, bringing the total number of infected people on the cruise to 45 .These announcements raised a lot of concerns about the future of tourism in Egypt, specifically in Luxor and Aswan. Fortunately, according to Waziri, tourist activities all over Egypt, especially in Luxor are proceeding normally.
As a preventative measure against COVID-19, Chairperson of the Egyptian Hotels Association Maged Fawzy announced on Monday that Egypt has bought 1,000 infrared devices to be distributed to all hotels in order to screen guests and employees at risk of COVID-19.
Notably, Chairperson of the committee for marketing cultural tourism in Upper Egypt, Mohamed Osman, told Daily News Egypt earlier that the impact of the announcement of confirmed COVID-19 cases on a Nile cruise is limited to the incoming tourist movement to Egypt. He also indicated that the rate of cancellation of reservations in Egypt is small.
