Ships cross Egypt's New Suez Canal in first test-run

Ships cross Egypt's New Suez Canal in first test-run

ISMAILIA, Egypt — The first cargo ships passed through Egypt's New Suez Canal today in a test-run before it opens next month, state media reported, 11 months after the army began constructing the $8 billion canal alongside the existing 145-year-old Suez Canal.

The new waterway, which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes will help expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and give a boost to Egypt's economy, will be formally inaugurated on Aug. 6.

Sisi wants the canal to become a symbol of national pride and to help combat Egypt's double-digit unemployment. The old Suez Canal is already a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, which has seen tourism and foreign investment drain away in the years of turmoil since a 2011 uprising.

Three container ships crossed the new waterway, state news agency MENA reported. One was an American ship heading to Egypt's Port Said from Saudi Arabia, another was a Danish ship sailing to the United States from Singapore, and a Bahraini ship going to Italy from Saudi Arabia.

Mohab Mameesh, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority who led the project, told state television from aboard the first ship that the test-run had been a success.

“This is the first trial crossing but it will be followed by more trials,” he said. “We are 99.2 percent done with everything. We should be completely done in two or three days.”

The existing canal earns Egypt around $5 billion per year. The new canal, which will allow two-way traffic of larger ships, is supposed to increase revenues by 2023 to $15 billion.

It should also reduce navigation time for ships to 11 hours from about 22 hours, Mameesh said last month, making it the fastest such waterway in the world.

The government also plans to build an international industrial and logistics hub nearby that it hopes will eventually make up about a third of the Egyptian economy.

Direct Luxor-Düsseldorf flights to launch this winter

Direct Luxor-Düsseldorf flights to launch this winter

Starting this winter, Germania and FTI will launch four direct weekly flights between Germany and Luxor, according to a statement from the Tourism Ministry.

The Tourism and Aviation ministries are currently in the process of facilitating the direct flights from Düsseldorf to Luxor, Egypt.

“In order to regain the demand on cultural tourism, we have to work in both the national direction as well as the international direction” Tourism Minister Khaled Rami said, according to Daily New Egypt. “On the national level, we need to start renovating and revitalize river marinas. The Tourism Development Authority and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation have successfully established a plan to develop marinas between Luxor, Aswan and south of the High Dam.”

Rami said that the efforts to promote tourism in Egypt abroad would be achieved through joint marketing campaigns with tour operators, hosting media and training sales employees on how to sell a variety of cultural tourism products.

Rami asked for the opportunity to host workshops with tour operators and German travel agencies as he pledged the ministry’s full support for hosting foreign media figures in Egypt. Thus, in August and September of this year, Egypt will welcome 500 foreign media representatives from around the world.

Tourism in Luxor and Aswan is decreasing rapidly, according to Tharwat El Agamy, chairman of the Egyptian Travel Agents Association. He said that recent terrorist attacks in Cairo were affecting tourism in Luxor and Aswan because most travel agencies organize tours to Luxor via the country’s capital.

Post-revolution Egypt still faces a new low in the tourism industry, one of the country’s main sources of income, with many businesses shutting down, including more than 250 floating hotels on the Nile River in Luxor.

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Egypt to organise tourism week in Addis Ababa in July: Ministry official

Egypt to organise tourism week in Addis Ababa in July: Ministry official

The Tourism Activation Authority (TAA), the Ministry of Tourism’s marketing arm, plans to organise a tourism week for Egypt in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, according to a Ministry of Tourism official.

The official said the aim of the tourism week is to boost cooperation between Egyptian and Ethiopian companies, especially in light of the growing economy of Addis Ababa.

He also said that the Egyptian Travel Agents’ Association (ETAA) will cover the accommodation costs for the companies wishing to participate in the event. The price is $155 for three days, on condition that the company covers 50% of the flight ticket. EgyptAir will, as a result, provide a discount for the remaining 50%.

Last year, tourist flow to Egypt amounted to 9.9 million tourists. The ministry targets an increase to 12.5 million tourists by the end of this year.

According to the official, Ethiopia is expanding its tourism infrastructure, whether hotels or airports, in light of its economic growth. It thus makes it an important East African country, important for Egypt to strengthen its relations with it. This is especially true in light of the deterioration in relations between the two countries following the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the official said.

Ethiopia is currently working on increasing its fleet of aeroplanes by over 60%, according to Hassan Aziz, Chairman of the Egyptian Federation for Private Aviation. He added that the increase in the fleet will create great growth in tourism. Ethiopian planes are expected to reach new destinations, especially in Europe, which is the main tourism market globally.

The official added: “In the past 10 years, we have been considering marketing for tourist programmes between Egypt and the Nile basin countries, including Ethiopia. However, the proposal was not implemented because of the situation in some African countries, as well as the political turmoil in Egypt for the past four years.”

The mutual tourism programme aims to allow tourists to visit historical areas in Egypt and other Nile Basin countries, during 10 days of the programme. The official said he expects that the programme will be a great leap in cooperation with the Nile Basin countries.