Tourism: Luxor witnesses unprecedented success

Egyptian Gazette (Salah Attia)

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Luxor is witnessing an unprecedented prosperous tourist season. For the first time in many years, the city's hotels are overbooked; floating hotels have also survived remarkably years-long recession.

There is hardly any doubt that Luxor's popularity at home and overseas gained much more ground than before after the city underwent major renovation and facelift. As a result, Luxor, which is rich in monuments and fascinating landscapes, has emerged one of the most attractive tourist sites across the country. The strong echoes of successful tourism in Luxor is part of remarkable achievements realised by Egypt's tourism industry in 2007. However, the more success the city achieves and the more major basic infrastructure projects its tourism industry witnesses, the larger the responsibilities Luxor has in this respect.

A few days ago, I took part in a meeting organised by the city's investors to explore the future prospects in Luxor. The investors' meeting coincided with the regular convention of the Board of the Egyptian Hotel Association, which took place in the city as well. The investors' meeting was attended by Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah, who was escorted by Dr. Samir Farag, Chairman of the Higher Council of Luxor. Addressing the investors, Minister Garranah confirmed that the unprecedented success achieved in 2007 had yielded more responsibilities Luxor would have to live up in 2008. The minister based his conclusion in this respect on impressions he had during several travel fairs he had attended shortly before. Minister Garranah explained that Egypt's tourism would soon face a strong competition from its major rivals overseas. He reminded his audience that signs of economic recession in Europe would largely affect leading tourist-exporting countries to Egypt. “That is why [Egypt] tourism should prepare itself very well to overcome the forthcoming competition,” the minister urged his audiences. He stressed that the human factor would be the propeller of the country's successful performance during the forthcoming competition.

Minister Garranah estimated at LE1.2 billion the renovation and development programmes planned in Luxor. He urged that floating hotels should be upgraded to fulfill the environmentalists' ambitions. The minister said: “Despite the fact that floating hotels in Luxor have been performing very well, especially after they safely increased their prices, they have to upgrade environment-friendly programmes.” He openly accused different floating hotels of provoking the resentment of environmentalists in the area. “Activities hostile to environment should be immediately stopped to preserve the country's national interests,” the minister demanded firmly. Minister Garranah confirmed to the city's investors and tourist officials that the problem of marinas would soon be resolved. “The Government has issued a decision to expropriate lands, which delayed the implementation of the marina project in the city,” he announced. Celebrating the success of tourism in Luxor, Minister Garranah remarked confidently that the city had outperformed different tourist cities and sites across the nation. He explained: “Over the past 12 months, Luxor's hotels reported an 99.9 per cent of the guest occupancy,” adding that this ambition has been unfulfilled for several years.

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