European tourists return to Egypt, mostly not to the Black Sea resorts, but to Upper Egypt, where most historical artifacts are concentrated. We are talking about a full-scale expansion of river cruises on the Nile – from Luxor to Aswan and back, as well as from the Pyramids of Giza to Aswan. But for Ukrainians, Nile cruises have never been in favor.
“There is a boom in tourism on the Nile. There is a great demand for this promising product from foreign tour operators in many tourism export markets, especially from France and Germany. Booking figures show that the rates of inbound tourism to Luxor in April are at a very good level,” – said the Egyptian media. It also reports that a number of owners of French travel companies have called for long Nile cruises for their tourists from Giza to Luxor and Aswan.
“This confirms the importance of these trips for foreign tourists and their contribution to the revival of tourism on the Nile, as well as the fact that these trips are a special tourist product in terms of its economic value,” – added Egyptian experts. The first place on cruises on the Nile, by the way, took French tourists, who took second place among countries that send tourists to Egypt in the first quarter of this year. And the first was in Spain.
Ukrainian tourists are quite indifferent to this type of recreation, although in the pre-war times cruises on the Nile were part of the range of tour operators. However, the product for Ukrainian tourists is still a beach holiday + day trips.
By the way, according to tourism expert Mohamed Otman, chairman of the Committee on Marketing of Cultural Tourism, Luxor currently receives about 2,000 tourists daily from Hurghada by land. “These trips increase the number of visitors to archeological and cultural sites and temples in Luxor. Also, thanks to him, there are shorter bazaars and tourist shops. The period of stay of these tourists in Luxor before returning to Hurghada is several hours, during which they visit cultural and archaeological sites in the governorate,” said the expert.