The Tourism Promotion Authority said in a statement Monday that Luxor airport received the first Japanese flight on a Boeing 338 b777 aircraft, carrying 230 passengers to visit the cities of Luxor, Aswan and Cairo.
The flight is the first Egypt Air charter from Japan on the Sir Osaka / Tokyo / Luxor line. The series of weekly charter flights is expected to run throughout the winter season until May of next year.
Tourism Authority Chairman stressed the importance of the return of Japanese tourists who are characterized by high spending rates compared to other nationalities, in addition to their marked interest in cultural and heritage tourism, which the authority seeks to develop.
This is considered the first major arrival of Japanese tourists to Luxor after a five-year absence from Egypt, due to the political unrest.
As the winter begins, the tourism sector in Egypt flourished slightly in some cities, including Hurgada, Sharm El-Sheikh, Luxor, Alexandria and Siwa Oasis.
There has been a 20 percent increase in the number of people moving through Egypt's sea ports on the Red Sea this year, according to data released by the Red Sea Ports Authority in October.
“There are good beginnings of a recuperative tourism season, especially after the intense promotional campaigns that were launched by the government to revive tourism,” Ammary Abdel Azim, head of Tourism Companies Division at the Chamber of Commerce, told Egypt Independent.
“I expect a 5 to10 percent increase in tourism flow this winter”.
On behalf of the Egyptian government, the marketting firm J. Walter Thompson (JWT) launched a three-month tourism marketing campaign in September 2016, costing the Egyptian government more than US$20 million.
The campaign targets 12 European nations and is part of an agreement reached with the Egyptian Tourism Authority last year.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
