Related Articles
By Abdallah Homouda
The Egyptian city of Luxor will host the 104th Session of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Executive Council over three days, from 30 October to 1 November 2016. Tuesday, 1 November, will also mark the beginning of the two day Fifth Global Summit on City Tourism, with Luxor declared as the 2016 “Tourism Capital of the World” by the Executive Council of the UNWTO in the Spanish city of Malaga in May.
According to primary sources, 28 foreign ministers with responsibility for tourism are heading their countries’ official delegations to the summit. The meeting will also be attended by 500 other tourist industry professionals. The Conference’s agenda includes a meeting of the Executive Council of UNWTO and a meeting of the City Tourism Network. Mr Yahya Rashid, Egyptian Minister for Tourism, said that some sessions will be closed, but the media will be able to cover other open sessions as well as events associated with the celebration of the occasion.
Development of the city
Luxor, which is one of the tidiest, cleanest and most organised Egyptian cities, has spent the past two weeks in an unprecedented campaign preparing for the grand occasion. There is a clear desire to show what can be done to overcome the difficult circumstances currently experienced by the Egyptian tourism sector. Preparatory operations are being overseen by Dr Mohammed Badr, the Governor of Luxor, and managed by Brigadier General Ali El-Gazzar, the City’s Mayor.
The plan is to make the city’s general appearance suit the occasion, to welcome representatives of other participating countries and to underline the readiness of Luxor and the whole of Egypt to receive and care for tourists and their security in anticipation of a return of foreign tourism to its former levels as soon as possible.
The development process, according to a City Council’s statement, involves “decorating the city squares, raising the efficiency of street lighting, tidying up public parks, distributing flowers on the main roads and decorating the trees with colourful lights.” All this after “paving the ram-headed sphinxes Avenue and other main roads, in addition to reforming the roads inside the city, preparing banners welcoming the guests” especially in the Khaled Bin Al-Waleed Street where the Conference Palace is located.
A source in the office of Dr. Mohammed Badr, the Governor of Luxor, has said sessions of the Tourism Conference will be held in the Conference Centre on the eastern bank (of the Nile) and not on the west bank as publicised by some. Celebratory functions are being organised on the east bank to facilitate the VIP participants and other guests’ movements between the formal meeting venues and the celebration sites.
New Tourist Attractions:
Over the past months, Luxor has witnessed intensive archaeological and tourist redevelopment. Last May, Dr. Khalid al-Anani, the Minister of Antiquities, opened four pharaonic tombs to visitors for the first time, following extensive restoration. The first is called “Thoth” No. TT110, in “Sheikh Abdel Qurna” area, the second is the tomb of “Amun Nakht,” the third is the tomb of “Neb en Maat” and the fourth is the tomb of “Kha’ em teri”. They are all in the Deir el-Medina area.
The sources expect that the opening of the tomb of “Thoth” by the ministers of tourism and antiquities will be attended by Stephen Beecroft, the US Ambassador in Cairo, and Sherry Carlin, Director of the US Agency for International Development in Egypt, together with the governors of Luxor and Aswan on the west bank of Luxor.
The Minister of Tourism’s follow ups:
Over the past months, Mr Yehia Rashed, Minister for Tourism, has made several visits to Luxor, including visiting the temples of Hatshepsut and Habu, and the tomb of Tutankhamun, during which he inspected the final touches of the development of tourist attractions and monuments. The visits also enabled him to coordinate work with Dr. Mohammed Badr and the Chamber of Tourist Facilities, which provides services to foreign visitors.
