This has been announced before, without happening, but this article seems convincing enough.
Egypt's tourism authority has announced that the river Nile will be opened up for the resumption of the "long Nile cruise," the full 14-day voyage all the way from Cairo to Aswan.
Egypt's new minister of tourism, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, said at a press conference in London yesterday that the cruises on the Lower Nile (confusingly, the northerly stretch of the river between Cairo and Luxor), would resume after a 16-year break. This is part of a plan by the Egyptian government to boost tourism numbers, which plummeted by 80 percent in February this year following the uprisings of the Arab Spring.
Currently, Nile cruises only operate between Luxor and the southerly city of Aswan; this stretch is known as the Upper Nile. There are virtually no licenses for operators to sail north of Luxor, so a typical visit to Egypt includes a few days in Cairo -- to visit the pyramids, the Museum of Antiquities and the Sphinx -- followed by a flight south to cruise the Upper Nile for up to a week.
The longer cruises, which take between 11 and 14 days, were stopped in 1994 for various reasons, including security concerns and the fact that the river was becoming severely silted up.
2 comments:
"Apart from the Temple of Dendera, 37 miles north of Luxor, there isn't much of cultural note until the river reaches Memphis and Sakkara, just outside Cairo."
Excuse me?!
Abydos? Amarna? And I could go on and on...
yes abydos is my favorite,lots to see ,more culture,..
Post a Comment