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