The moment you enter one of those floating scattered boats in the Nile and enjoy its trip from north to south, you will have a timeless experience of beauty.
This journey will take you to watch the ancient lands planted by ancestors, and the magical creation of God.
The journeys done by those scattered and floating boats and hotels developed through time until this kind of journey became a tourist field on its own.
Therefore, Tourism Expert Mohamed Othman said: “The number of floating hotels in the Nile was 225. Currently, the number of working units is between 18 to 40 floating hotels as tourism in Egypt was deeply affected by the events the state saw in the past few years.”
He added that the number of those hotels increased during the winter tourist season and winter short vacation.
Othman pointed out that the German, English, Japanese, and Chinese tourists are the most foreigners who enjoy this kind of tourism.
On his side, Al Tayeb Abdullah Hassan, tour guide, said that God gifted Egypt with the magical Nile River, that’s why tourist corporations organize those Nile trips to impress tourists visiting Nile islands, mountains, and inspect the plants grown on the banks of the river.
He highlighted that the scene of the blue Nile water shining with the sun rays is one of the most breathtaking sceneries.
On the other hand, Alaa Hadad, Egyptian Travel Agents Association member, asserted that this kind of tourism was terribly affected by the events that happened in 2011, and it didn’t recover until now, in addition, several crises worsened the situation such as suspending direct flights between Russia and Egypt after the famous incident of Russian-collapsed airplane.
Moreover, the Coronavirus crisis contributed to increasing the crisis in the whole world, so, he called all institutions to work together to encourage this tourism during the upcoming winter season.
Haddad asserted that only seven boats are still working due to the poor tourism in the south, and the decline of the tourists coming from the countries that send the majority of Egypt’s tourists.
So, many companies decided to encourage different nationalities to experience Nile tourism such as the Siberians, and Belarusians.
The expert continued that Egypt imposed strict measures to compete against the pandemic, at the same time, the government protected all tourist and archaeological sites and destinations, especially after the breathtaking Golden Royal Mummies Parade. It is expected that this occasion could contribute to recovering tourism in Egypt.
He also called for backing the tourist investors to have the ability to develop their institutions such as hotels and transportation.
Hadad explained that tourist institutions had a lot of debts to be paid as tourism was fully suspended for a year and a half, in addition, each boat and hotel will have to pay EGP 350,000 for obtaining new permission as the current one was terminated.
He highlighted that various owners started to adopt new solutions to gain profits such as the possibility of taking photos under the surface of the water.
However, he called the government to support all the tourist sector workers and decreasing their debts.
Contributed by: Rana Atef
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