Abdel Gabbar: The event aims to promote cultural tourism in one of Europe's largest tourism markets
Mohamed Abdel Gabbar, head of the international tourism sector at the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, told Travel Yalla that a high-level French delegation of 50 people, including parliamentarians, major tour operators, representatives of tourism companies and journalists from newspapers and television channels, is scheduled to be hosted from October 20 to 24 to attend the opening of the new Abu Simbel museum and watch the phenomenon of the sun aligning on the face of Ramses II.
Abdel Gabbar added that the event aims to promote cultural tourism, the type of tourism preferred by French tourists, noting that French Egyptologist "Christiane Desroches Noblecourt" will be honored during the event.
Abdel Gabbar explained that a full tourism program has been prepared for the French delegation, including a dinner at Habu Temple in Luxor and a visit to the West Bank and the Tomb of Nefertari, which supports the sense of safety and security at archaeological sites and encourages the flow of more French tourists to Egypt.
It is worth noting that the French market is one of Egypt's important European markets, recording about 104,000 tourist arrivals from January to September 2015, a slight decline of 3.6% compared with the same period of 2014.
