ABOUT TRAVEL TO EGYPT

Most people who think of Egypt think of antiquities, but Egypt offers much more. Certainly it is a prime location to see our great heritage from the ancient world, including Pyramids and wonderful temples, but it is also part of the Holy Land, and tours to Christian and other religious monuments are popular. Yet Egypt also offers nature and desert treks, great scuba diving and even golf, fishing and birding expeditions. One may choose to relax on the wondrous Egypt Red Sea or Sinai coasts, take in the high culture of Cairo, or even leisurely float down the Egyptian Nile on a luxurious river boat.

Content
1 history -statistic 2 major attractions 3 nile cruises 4 transportation -airports -railways 5 egyptian currency 6climate 7 safety 8 culture

HISTORY
Egypt has been an important destination for people in the Middle East, Africa and Europe from ancient times. Beginning in the early 19th century with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt interest in Egyptology surged and this fascination laid the foundations for the modern tourism industry in the country. Tourism remains an important pillar of the Egyptian economy and has received wide support from the government STATISTIC

In 2000, there were about 5.5 million foreign tourist arrivals, with over 3.8 million from Europe, and receipts totaled more than $4.3 billion. In that year there were 113,611 rooms in hotels and 227,222 beds with a 73% occupancy rate. In 2002, the US government estimated the average daily cost of staying in Cairo to be about $167, around the same as other major cities in Egypt. Tourism in Egypt was a $11.6bn (7.3bn) industry in 2009
MAJOR ATTRACTION

The celebrated tourist attractions of Egypt are the millennia-old monuments for which the Nile Valley is world famous. Principal among them are thePyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza, the Abu Simbel temples south of Aswan and the Karnak Temple Complex and Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Cairo also boasts the Cairo Museum and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha and the coastal areas of Sinai Peninsula are very popular with visitors as well.

PYRAMIDSis a structure in which all of the outer surfaces (excluding the base) are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces (at least fourfaces including the base) GIZA is the third largest city in Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River, some 20 km southwest of central Cairo

-great sphinx
The Great Sphinx of Giza (English: The Terrifying One), commonly referred to as the Sphinx, is a statue of a reclining (a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of theNile in Giza, Egypt. It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 6 metres (20 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high.[1] It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the pharaoh Khafra (c. 25582532 BC)

ABU SIMBEL temples

refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel known as the "Nubian Monuments,originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari

karnak temple complex

The Karnak Temple Complexusually called Karnakcomprises a vast mix of ruined temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 13911351 BC). Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some 500 km south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5 km north of Luxor.

VALLEY O THE KINGS

is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for thePharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom

Niles cruises Nile cruises may vary considerably, but typical Nile cruises are either three, four or seven nights. The shorter tours usually operate between Luxor and Aswan, while the longer cruises travel further north to Dendera, often offering day tours overland to more remote locations. Transportation
Airports There are nine international airports in Egypt that serve all of the countys major cities including Cairo International Airport and Taba international airports

Railways
Egyptian Railways is the backbone of passenger transportation in Egypt with 800 million passenger miles annually.

EGYPTIAN URRECY The currency in Egypt is the Egyptian pound - usually abbreviated as EGP and sometimes, LE or L.E.. The 1/100th unit of EGP is the Piastre. The approximate exchange rate for 1 USD is 5.8 EGP as of December 2010. There is no limit on the amount of currency which the visitors may bring to Egypt, however, they must declare the currency and amount upon arrival and departure with bank receipts. If you are carrying Egyptian Currency, it should not exceed EGP 5,000. Climate Peak tourist season in Egypt runs from mid October to May, during winter and spring. From May until October, the temperatures are fairly high, especially in Luxor and the southern parts of the country. Egypt is one of the hottest and sunniest countries in the world. With the exception of a strip along the Mediterranean coast, Egypt has a desert climate, being entirely within the Sahara. The Mediterranean coastal strip has an average annual rainfall of 100 200 mm. In central and southern Egypt several years may pass without any significant rain. Winters are generally warm in the south of Egypt, but temperatures fall rather abruptly at night so that desert evenings in winter can be quite chilly. The heat of southern Egypt in summer is fierce, and there is almost no relief from one day to another. The very low humidity, however, makes the heat more bearable SAFETY Terrorism has affected the industry in recent times. A total of 58 foreign tourists were killed in the 1997 Luxor massacre. The tourist industry sunk even lower with the September 11 attacks in the eastern United States in 2001, the 2004 Sinai bombings, April 2005 terrorist attacks in Cairo, the July 23, 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks, and the 2006 Dahab bombings. Historically, foreign tourists have been a common target of attacks dating back to the early 1990s. Militants have typically been motivated by a combination of Qutbism and opposition to the Mubarakgovernment, and attacking foreigners including nonMuslims while hurting Egypt's tourist trade was seen as serving both goals
In late 2010 Egypt's tourism ministry decided to close the Sharm el-Sheikh beach following shark attacks that left one German tourist dead and four people (three Russians and one Ukrainian) seriously injured. The attacks appear to be from more than one shark, and include at least one shortfin mako shark. Marine biologist George Burgess said that more than one species of shark has been involved in the attacks, possibly including an Oceanic whitetip shark.

Culture Egyptian culture boasts five millennia of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest and greatest civilizations during which the Egyptians maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Near East and Africa. After the Pharaonic era, the Egyptians themselves came under the influence of Hellenism, Christianity and Islamic culture. Today, many aspects of ancient Egyptian culture exist in interaction with newer elements, including the influence of modern Western culture, itself influenced by Ancient Egypt.