The Committee for the Promotion of Cultural Tourism in Luxor, headed by Mohamed Osman, announced, on Tuesday, the launch of a campaign to support cultural tourism that will last until October 2021.
Throughout the campaign, the committee aims to send messages to countries around the world from archaeologists working in the city. The messages will be sent through the foreign excavations missions in Upper Egypt.
The first message came from Egyptology researcher Teresa at the Luxor Temple, who has been working for years with the Spanish mission in the western mainland.
Teresa’s message highlighted the Egyptian government’s efforts to protect Egyptian temples including the Luxor Temple.
The message also assured that the tourism sector strictly applies and adheres to all precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic across tourism facilities and archaeological destinations.
She called on Spanish visitors to travel to Luxor to see the magnificent human civilisation, many temples and hundreds of tombs that have preserved their colours and inscriptions for thousands of years.
The visitors will also see the recent discoveries that have taken place in several areas on the western mainland and many giant archaeological projects across Egypt.
For his part, Osman stressed the importance of Spanish tourism, adding that on 27 March and 3 April, Luxor Airport will receive two charter flights coming from Madrid, with each flight carrying 120 tourists.
He noted that Egypt must consider the Spanish market well, as it is one of the most important sources for tourist flow to archaeological destinations.
Talking to Daily News Egypt, Osman said that Egypt used to receive more than 300,000 Spanish tourists a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
He mentioned that visitors from Spain are not limited to the winter season, but also come to visit archaeological and tourist destinations during the summer season as well, which must be well exploited during the coming period.
Osman pointed out that this initiative carries a lot of positive messages, including the readiness of Luxor to receive international flights, especially Luxor Airport, in light of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee’s activities.
These are particularly regarding exploiting the low rates of people infected with COVID-19 in Upper Egypt.
Osman added that the governorates of Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, and South Sinai have the least number of COVID-19 infections across Egypt, hence the importance of promoting cultural tourism there.
