Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) Targets to Attract One Lakh Indian Tourists This Year

For the first time, Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) organised a road show yesterday in Mumbai, with an aim to increase Indian tourists’ arrivals in Egypt. This event is part of its three country road show (October 13-18, 2010) covering India, Singapore and Malaysia. The road show in Mumbai focused on increasing business opportunities and establishing contacts with the Indian travel trade. As part of its promotions, the Authority will launch an upgraded version of its promotional website www.egypt.travel next month with country specific home pages to provide information on Egypt tourism.

Samy Mahmoud, Undersecretary Head of the International Tourism, Egyptian Tourist Authority said, “We are looking at positioning Egypt as not only a leisure destination but also highlighting its adventure, wellness and MICE segment offerings. We have a growing number of Indian tourists from the honeymoon segment visiting the country. We currently host about 90,000 Indian tourists per year, and we are targeting to increase the number to one lakh this year. We are hoping that the arrivals will double in the coming years.”

The Authority will also launch an advertising campaign in 26 countries all over the world. Besides, Egypt’s official airline, EgyptAir will also increase its frequency on the Mumbai-Cairo route to five flights per week from November 2, 2010. Egypt will be a partner country of ITB Asia, to be held on October 20-22, 2010 at Suntec Singapore Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Egypt received 7,189 Indian tourists last month and a total of 77,610 tourists in January- September 2010, which is an increase of 36.9 per cent compared to the same period last year. “We are expecting good response for the road show and are planning to organise the same in Russia and China. We will try to conduct such road shows in India every two years,” added Mahmoud.


Source: Travel Biz Monitor

Egypt Archaeologists Find Statue of Tutankhamun's Grandad

CAIRO – Egyptian archaeologists unearthed part a 3,000-year-old statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of the young King Tutankhamun, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Saturday.

"The statue was found near the northern entrance of Amenhotep III's temple and depicts the king sitting down on a throne with Amun, the chief deity," Hawass said.

"The red-granite top half of the statue was discovered at the site of the Amenhotep III's funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor," Hawass said.

The newly-discovered artifact which measures 130 centimeters (51 inches) in height and 95 cm (37 inches) in width is "fantastic... because of the details of the facial features," Hawass said.

Archaeologists believe the full statue is around three meters (nearly 10 feet) tall.

In recent years, a large quantity of red-granite statue pieces have been uncovered at Amenhotep III's funerary temple at Kom al-Hitan on Luxor's west bank.

Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, center, checks Tutankhamun's mummy at his tomb in Luxor, before exposing it to X-ray to assess the need for restoration. Wednesday's research also was an attempt to discover the cause of death for Tutankhamun, who ruled for nine years before dying at age 17

Amenhotep III ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1352 BC.

He was almost certainly the grandfather of Tutankhamun, according to the results of DNA tests and computerized tomography (CT) scans on the famed boy king's mummy announced by scientists on February 17.

A 3,000-year-old statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of the young King Tutankhamu, unearthed by archaeologists (source: Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (ESCA))