March, 2011 Egypt Travel Newsletter:
French tourism
companies resume their trips to Egypt starting the beginning of March 2011
The French Association of Travel Agencies announced that they will resume their
trips to Egypt next Tuesday, the first of March 2011. This decision took place
after the French authorities have lifted the restrictions that were put on
organizing tourist trips to Egypt after the improvement that was noticed
concerning the security situation in the land of the Nile.
The French Association of Travel Agencies declared in its statement today, the
18th of February 2011, that tourist trips to Egypt will be resumed gradually
starting from the first of March according to operational conditions and the
system of flights between Egypt and France
The association added that the French tourism companies will continue
assessing
the situation in Egypt particularly concerning trips going to Cairo the capital
in order to resume the trips during the coming days.
It is worth mentioning that more than 600 thousand French tourist visited Egypt
in 2010.
The Egyptian antiquities museum reopens its doors and tourists are
welcomed with flowers
Tens of tourists weren't troubled with the events of the revolution that took
place in Egypt in January 2011. a number of tourists have started visiting the
Egyptian museum of antiquities starting the 21st of February 2011. The workers
in the Egyptian Museum welcomed their guests with flowers after they restored
what occurred to the museum during the days of the
revolution. The director of the Egyptianmuseum, Tarek Al Awady, noted that reopening the museum was an important step to stop the rumors that were spread that the golden treasure of Tut Ankh Amon was stolen among many other valuable treasures and displays. He added that the tourists and the Egyptians as well will witness with their own eyes that the museum still has all its precious items.
A tourist from the Netherlands who visited the museum said "tourism companies
said it is safe to visit Egypt, therefore we came and we never knew that the
museum has reopened"
Although many travel agents have announced a lot of warning concerning traveling
to Egypt, tourists from Netherlands, Japan, and Canada said that their passion
to view Egypt after the revolution was greater and stronger than any worries
that they had. A Canadian tourist said" I insisted to view the museum in the new
Egypt"
Egyptians who are fond of their history and their antiquities insisted to visit
the museum as well. A married Egyptian couple from Southern Egypt traveled to
Cairo to visit the museum for the first time after they learned through the
Egyptian TV channels that the museum was reopened again.
In one of the halls of the museum, a group of young Egyptian ladies who were
dressed in the colors of the Egyptian flag welcomed the visitors with flowers.
Maha, who is one of these young ladies and a student in the faculty of
antiquities, said that once we heard the news that the museum was reopened, we
decided to establish a group on the face book to organize some efforts to
welcome the tourists who come to the museum.
One thousand tourists view the penetration of the sunrays on the face of
Ramsis II in Abu Simble
One thousand tourists viewed the unique international event of the sunrays
reflection on the face of Ramsis II in his large temple Abu Simble. This rare
astronomical event only takes place two times a year. The first time is on the
22nd of October and second time is on the 22nd of February.
Two folklore bands from Aswan participated in the event and performed a number
of dances and songs. A number of Sothern Egypt officials attended the event as
well and they were accompanied by many youth who wanted to convey a message to
the world that Egypt will always remain as the land of safety and security.
Ahmed Salah, the director of the antiquities administration in Abu Simble,
stated that the event started at 6:20 in the morning and the phenomena of the
sun remained for 21 minutes to announce the beginning of the harvest season for
the ancient Egyptians.
On the other hand, the general secretary of the governorate of Aswan said that
this event is a nice opportunity to attract tourists and that the temple of Abu
Simble was opened for free for all the visitors. He also added that everything
is working properly in Abu Simble the same as all sections of Aswan
1900 tourist arrived to the Hurghada
airport:
The Hurghada Airport welcomed 15 flights that contained 1900 tourists from
different nationalities on Wednesday the 15th of February.
General Hatem Mounir, the general coordinator of the committee of "exiting out
of the crisis" noted that most of these tourists were British as their number
reached 850 tourists who arrived in Hurghada. There were also a lot tourists
coming from Poland and Austria. 
Mounir added that the tourism investment society and the body of hotel facilities are following up tourism in Egypt, occupancy rates, and the regularity of working conditions. He said that everything is getting back gradually to normal. Some hotels have asked the people working for them to come back from their holidays and to resume their work.
German Tourism Association: Trips going to Egypt and Tunisia will return
to normal soon _prefRes.jpg)
The German Tourism Association announced that tourists will come back soon to
Egypt and Tunisia after the revolutions that took place in these two countries
The announcement added that Egypt and Tunisia are considered among the most
favorite destinations for Germans and that Germans spent more time in these two
countries in comparison to any other country in the world in 2010.
The director of the German tourism association said that the turbulences that
took place in Egypt and Tunisia will affect the tourist trips for a short time
only. He added that reservation rates have increased significantly.
He added in a press conference " I am sure Egypt and Tunisia will recover
quickly and preserve their position in the international tourism map.
670 British tourists arrive in Luxor:
670 British tourists arrived in Luxor at the end of February divided into 4
trips, 3 of them were organized by Tomas Cook and one organized by Easy Jet.
The governorate of Loxur has also welcomed a trip consisting of 250 tourists
coming from Hurghada in an over day trip.
The tourism expert, Kamal Kurdy added that three Nile cruise boats will resume
their trips between Aswan and Luxor during March 2011.
Jordanian companies promote tourism in Egypt benefiting from the attractive
discounts
Tourism offices in Jordan have started a promotion campaign for tourist trips
going to Egypt to take advantage of the attractive discounts especially after
the former Egyptian president, Hosny Mubarak, resigning and the Egyptian cities
going back to normal.
Workers in Jordanian tourism offices haveannounced that the prices of services
and hotels in Egypt have decreased tremendously in order to attract tourists. 
They added that despite that the tourism season is over and the education
semester has already started, they are optimistic that joint tourism programs
between Egypt and Jordan would come back to normal quickly
The directors of tourism offices in Jordon said that they started announcing for
the promotion campaign they are organizing and that they are sure that the
tourist trips to Egypt will be resumed shortly.
We have to mention that more than 200 thousand Jordanians have visited Egypt in
2010.
Italy: The security situation in
Egypt has become stable
The Italian Minster of foreign affairs, Franco Frattini, asserted that the
situation in Egypt is stable for tourist trips to travel to Egypt in large
numbers as they used to do.
Frattini said, in a special interview for the Egyptian television on Sunday the
6th of March, we are sure that the security situation in Egypt is good now. He
added that he doesn't expect any problems or risks facing Italian tourists going
to Egypt and that the Italian tourism companies started preparing trips coming
to Egypt in the coming vacations
Frattini spokes about many other issues including the economical support for the
new Egyptian governorate
Egypt invites Russian tourists to
come back!
The Egyptian authorities asked Moscow, in an official request that was sent to
the Russian foreign affairs ministry, to give the Russians the permission to
visit Egypt again. 
The Egyptian ambassador in Russia, Alaa El Dine Al Hadidy, said that Egypt is
regaining its stability once again and the revolution was unarmed and peaceful.
He added that one of the priorities of the new Egyptian government is to attract
huge numbers of tourists to come visit Egypt
Al Hadidy asked the Russian tourism companies to have a joint strategy with the
Egyptian companies to attract Russian tourists to come visit Egypt once again
