Introduction

Tourism is one of the main sources of the national income and that is why the state is keen to promote and develop this important sector. Hence, the government has taken several measures for the benefit of this sector and other sectors as well.

 The most prominent decisions taken in 2017  were the liberalization of the exchange rate, the formation of the Supreme Council to combat terrorism  and the restructuring of the Supreme Council for Tourism. The government also worked on the development of infrastructure, in addition to several national projects for the benefit of the tourism sector, including the establishment of the new administrative capital and E l Alamein new city  which provide  a new tourist product on the Mediterranean Sea and the Golden Triangle project.

 This is in addition to the development of new types of tourism such as therapeutic tourism, religious tourism, conference tourism and sports tourism.

Accordingly, year 2017 witnessed significant care for sustainable and green tourism on the light of the international interest in tourism this year.

The efforts  exerted in the previous year and the year before have been reflected positively on tourism, despite the fact that Egypt had been exposed to terrorist incidents like that of Al-Rawda mosque on 24/11/2017 in northern Sinai, which resulted in the martyrdom of 305 worshipers.

Numbers &Statistics

Final statistics of tourism sector  for 2017 have not been announced yet. However, there are positive indicators that could not be ignored as tourism sector in Egypt began to see a significant improvement during the last period.  For example, the number of tourists who visited Egypt from January to August reached 5 million and 161,000 tourists, compared to 3 million and 617 ,000 tourists for the same period in 2016.

Also,  the number of nights spent by tourists  from January to the end of August rose to reach 50 million and 250 ,000 tourist nights,  compared to 19 million and 607 ,000 tourist nights over the same period last year,with  a growth rate of 61%, and that  increase achieved  through  European and Arab tourism  in Egypt increased   recovery  indicators over the past period.

As for the rate of tourists ‘spending  per night, the Central Bank announced that the  rate of spending increased to reach  around $ 88 dollars to $ 92  per night.
As for tourists flowing, Germany  was ranked first, as the number of German tourists until the end of September reached 800 ,000 tourists.

China was ranked the seventh in terms of Egypt's top 10 export markets and 10th in terms of tourist nights spent by a Chinese tourist.

   In addition to that the Prizes &Certificates  awarded to some tourism establishments  gave positive indicators on Egypt restoring back  its distinguished position and moving steadily towards its natural rates which  in turn would inevitably  make of  the Egyptian tourist destination  a preference for all tourists around the world.
The awarded prizes are as follows:

       
- Egypt has been awarded as one of the top ten tourist destinations in the Chinese tourist market in terms of high quality tourist destinations.

- Having best diving destination award at the international scuba diving exhibition in Birmingham.
 
- Egypt has been awarded the best tourist destination for travel of the 2017 Year at Berlin Stock Exchange and was honored with the "Best Destination for Luxury Travel of 2017" award.

- China National Tourism Administration( CNTA)T certified  that Egypt is one of the main     tourist destinations for  the Chinese .

- Egypt is ranked among the top 20 countries in airport   insurance according to ICAO audit. 
- World Tourism Barometer issued by the UN World Tourism(UNWTO) and published quarterly reported that there had been a significant recovery in the number of international tourist arrivals  to Egypt after the weak results of 2016, and that Egypt recorded a 51% increase in the number of tourist arrivals in the first four months of 2017 compared to the number of arrivals  at the same period of 2016, which Barometer described as «a strong recovery  from the crisis that  faced Egyptian tourism  in 2016». As for the rates of tourists’ spending , Egypt came in the 48th place instead of the  50th , with a tourist spending of $ 4.1 billion in 2016.

- Rixos Hotel in  Sharm El Sheikh was awarded the Golden Sun  Award for 2017  as the Hotel of the Year.The celebration took place in Germany on May 2017.It excelled over 1500 hotel around the world.
-   Cairo Airport has received the best 2017 air safety award in Africa Continent for the best procedures that  have been taken by  the Airports Council International (ACI) to increase safety levels.

- Egypt won the membership of the Executive Board of the World Tourism Organization for the Middle East Region for a period of 4 years by a majority of votes. This took place   during the 43rd meeting of the Organizing Committee at September 2017, in Chengdu, China, as part of the 22nd session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization entitled "Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals. During that meeting Egypt was selected to hold its 44th meeting through the second quarter of 2018, and it was agreed that Egypt and Saudi Arabia would participate in the Ad Hoc Committee to prepare the final draft of the Convention on the Ethics of Tourism.

- “This is Egypt” campaign, which aims to bring tourists back to Egypt was chosen as Best Tourism Promotion by “Golden City Gate Award,” on the sidelines of the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin (ITB) held last March.

- Egypt has the best reputation of Arab countries and the 40th best globally, according to a new global public perception survey conducted by market research institute GFK.

- The Egyptian pavilion won the best pavilion  in Spain International Expo for Travel and Tourism. It is known as Fitur,and was organised from 18-22 January 2017 .

- Egyptian tourist expert Mohamed Youssef received on January 2017 the Global Tourism Innovation award 2017, for his innovations in the development of marketing methods i.e.  e-marketing which would enhance  tourism marketing worldwide .The celebration was  organized within the activities of the Madrid Tourism Exchange.

- On 4/4/2017 ,US department classified Egypt as "safe "country and  labeled it on the "green map ".It also advised  its citizen to visit Egypt and at the same time warned them from visiting Europe and Turkey.

- Egypt’s Sharm el-Luli beach  in the resort of Marsa Alam city in the Red Sea governorate has ranked third in a Trip Advisor ranking for the top 10 beaches in the Middle East in 2017.
 

Resolutions , Agreements & Protocols

2017 witnessed a lot of resolutions, agreements and protocols that  have  a positive impact on  the development of  tourism sector

On January 2017, a Resolution to reshape the Board  of  Directors of the Tourism Activation Authority, under the chairmanship of Hisham Damiri, head of the tourism activation authority.

On January 2017, Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) board, decided to extend the period of the initiative supporting the tourism sector until the end of February 2018.

On January 2017, the permanent Committee for Islamic and Coptic Antiquities agreed at its last session to register  Sayeda Zeinab  mosque and the tribes of Al-Atris and Alaydros  within Islamic monuments.

Ministerial decree no 352 to 2016 to restructure the Supreme Council for Tourism.

Ministerial decision to form a technical secretariat for the Supreme Council for Tourism.

On February 2017, a Ministerial decree was  issued to return back to  SOTO ticket system . The SOTO system is known to issue tickets outside Egypt. The decision came in light of the liberalization of the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound and in coordination with the Central Bank of Egypt(CBE).

On April 2017,A republican decree issued to  affiliate the 1952 Revolution Headquarter in Al-Jazeira district of Cairo Governorate to the Presidential palaces, while continuing to consider it as an Islamic and Coptic monuments.

Ministerial decree No. 410 of 2017, accrediting the regulations of the tourists  chambers and their union.

      
 On July 17th the Prime Minister decision  to exclude 17 islands from Resolution no 1969 for 1998 ,concerning the establishment of natural reserves.

On May 2017, a Ministerial decision  amending the activities to be conducted in Al-Dababiya Protectorate in Luxor after reviewing the laws regulating the procedures governing the activities in the areas of natural biosphere reserves and determining the uses of the state lands.

Tourism ministry  enforces companies to deal with authorized diving centers for the interest of the public and to avoid legal liability.

On June 2017, a decision to operate a direct and regular line from Cairo to Narita airport, Japan linking it with  inner cities.

Ministerial Decision No. 1320 /2017, to form a committee for marketing  Egyptian tourist destination  Worldwide  headed by Egyptian Minister of Tourism Yahiya Rashed .

Ministerial Decision to form a Higher Committee for the Development of the Monuments of the Rashid City transforming it  into an open Archaeological Islamic Museum

A Republican decree stating  that  the minister of antiquities is the competent minister for the application of the provisions of the law of the public sector companies

Prime Minister agreed to display 9 artifacts in the Cultural Museum of Italy until January 2018.

On December 2017, the Cabinet approved the establishment of the Tutankhamen exhibition "Idols of Ancient Egypt "in, California Los Angeles, beginning in November 2018 for 9 months.

On November 2017, Approval to put Ras Ghareb Light house at Red Sea Governorate in the List of Islamic and Coptic monuments in the Red Sea.

II Agreements and protocols'

.

  On January 2017, a joint cooperation protocol was signed between the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities in the field of Management of tourist services at the archaeological sites in the Egyptian Museum to  raise the  efficiency  of the Tourist services provided.

On February 2017, two memorandums of understanding were signed between Egypt and Togo in the fields of training on Air safety and security.

  On March 2017,Egypt Air signed code sharing  agreement with the UAE national carrier .

On March 2017 , endorsing the executive program of cooperation in the field of tourism between Egypt and Lebanon  for the years 2017 -2019.

On early June 2017, Egypt Air signed a code sharing agreement with Kenyan Airlines .

On July 2017  both Egypt air and the Greek Aegean Airlines  announced an increase of Cooperation in the code sharing agreement between them to include new lines.

On July 2017, Ministry of Antiquities signed a protocol with a number of provinces, and Governorates of Kafr El-Sheikh and Menoufia to establish museums there.

On August 2017, Prime Minister decision to establish the General Authority of the Economic Zone of the golden Triangle which  stipulates that the Commission shall be affiliated to the Prime Minister.

  On August 2017, a Joint cooperation protocol was signed between Egypt Air represented in Karnak tourism sector, and the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Promotion with the aim to support Egyptian tourism activities at the national and international levels.

 On August 2017 , the Antiquity ministry signed  cooperation protocol with Matrouh Governorate to establish  an archaeological museum  that comprises  thousands of  pieces  allocating  a part of Egypt's public library there  to be the museum's headquarter.

 On August 2017 , a protocol of cooperation was signed between the Egyptian and Romanian Ministries  of Tourism during the visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Romania.

On September 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Tourism Authority and the Tourism Development Committee in Ningxia Chinese region  to promote tourism cooperation.

On September 2017, An Executive Program for Cooperation in the Field of Tourism was signed Between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the Egyptian Tourism ministry.  This occurred during President Sisi visit to Vietnam.

Cooperation protocol signed between Egypt and Italy on the sidelines of the visit of the Minister of Tourism to adopt the path of the Holy Family trip in order to increase the movement of inter-tourism.

On November 2017 ,three  memorandums of understanding were signed between Egypt and Zambia for cooperation in the field of tourism , youth, sports, health and medicine during the Zambian President's visit to Egypt.

The German University in Cairo signed the third Cooperation Protocol with Luxor Governorate to consolidate means  of cooperation in the development of the  Luxor city  as a continuation of the development process which began in 2016 at the governorate headquarters with the signing of two protocols on 19/11/2016.

On 21/11/2017 ,Egypt, Cyprus and Greece signed cooperation agreements in Nicosia in the presence of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his counterpart Cypriot Prime Minister Nikos Anastaseides and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

On 15/12/2017  Egyptian Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy and Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov signed  cooperation agreement on the resumption of direct flights between the two countries after a two-year break. Air traffic will resume on February 1, 2018,   International travel markets

2017 witnessed a wide Egyptian participation at the international travel market specially in Germany, Britain, France, Italy ,Russia and China which led to the flourishing  of tourism .

- Numerous campaigns and convoys targeting India ,Japan and the Arab countries were launched .Furthermore,  Egypt participated in  important international exhibitions and in world stock  exchange as they are important tools to propagate for  the  various tourist destination. This was seen clearly through meetings with professional partners and decision-makers in   tourism industry. The Ministry of Tourism participated in a number of important events as follows :

Philoxenia 2017 Tourism Expo in Thessaloniki, Greece  from 18-20  November 2017.The exhibition is the largest and most important annual exhibition of the tourism industry.

London International Exchange:  from 6-8 November 2017. It is   considered the second  World Tourism Exchange after Berlin Stock Exchange. 16 tourism companies participated in it in addition to 25 Egyptian hotels.


TTG Incontri 2017 - the International B2B Expo Fair for Tourism/ 12-14 October 2017 TTG Incontri is the most important international B2B trade fair dedicated to tourism in Italy.It is a marketplace for negotiations, networking and business between Italian and international companies and the intermediaries for tourist products.

TTG Incontri is an unmissable event for all professionals in the sector, to understand market performance, present what’s new in the market, foresee trends and learn about how the sector is developing. It  succeeded with the participation of more than 60,000 visitors from professionals in the tourism sector.

IFTM Top Resa:-

IFTM Top Resa is France’s leading international B2B tourism exhibition, attended by over 30,000 trade professionals. IFTM .Top Resa 2017 was held at Paris Porte de Versailles from September 26 to 29, with over 500 exhibitors. Promotional materials and photographs of all Egyptian tourist destinations were presented.

Leisure Tourism Fair2017   
19-21 Sept 2017
It is one of the most important tourist exhibitions in Russia

Sharm Travel Markets (STM)


From 15/09 to 18/09/2017

Sharm Travel Market (STM), is the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry organized by Grand Blue Tours leading travel agent for the last 10 years.

The annual business-to-business (B2B) exhibition showcases over 1000 products and destinations from around the world to over 5000 buyers and travel trade visitors across four days at the Sharm El-Sheikh Travel Market (STM).

More than 1,000 travel professionals, government ministers and international press visited STM on September to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at Sharm Travel Market.

This year of STM provided international exhibitors with a gateway to the Middle East travel industry and Middle East exhibitors with the ideal platform to reach both regional and international buyers.

China-Arab States Expo 2017 was successfully held from September 6 to 9, 2017 in Yinchuan, China. The Expo took “Friendship, Cooperation and Development” as the purpose, and “Towards a New Model of Partnership Featuring Results-oriented and Win-win Cooperation” as the theme.


Arabian Travel Market 2017 Dubai ,UAE The Arabian Travel Market(ATM) lasted for  4 days from Sunday, 24. April to Wednesday, 27. April 2017 in Dubai. ATM is a travel and tourism event, organized annually in Dubai to provide a platform for inbound and outbound tourism professionals in the Middle East and gives information on tourism destinations, accommodation options, tourism attractions and aviation industry in the Middle East and around the world.


It has Promotional campaigns that are   specially designed for the Arab tourist as  :"Ramadan with us" ,"Eid with us"  and "Have your summer vacation with us" this in cooperation with Jazeera Airways

The WTM  World Travel Market Latin America took  place on 3 days from 4. April to 6 April 2017 in Sao Paulo.Egypt participated with a unique pavilion at this exhibition.

Bit International Tourism Exchange 2017

Egypt participated at the activities of this exhibition in Milan. Sharm el sheikh promotional campaign has been launched there at the Italian market.

Ottawa Tourism Exhibition

25-26 March2017.
The Egyptian pavilion distributed  visual and written Advertising materials on  the most important tourist attractions in Egypt.

ITB Berlin - International Travel Trade Show Berlin
ITB Berlin is a 5-day event being held from 8th March to 12th March 2017 in Berlin, Germany.
In 2017 the tradeshow ITB Berlin - The World's Leading Travel Trade Show served as a presentation platform for 7752 exhibitors. These tradeshow exhibitors presented their companies and services on a total of 89038 sqm at ITB Berlin.
The Egyptian pavilion comprised 80 exhibitors representing Egyptian hotels, companies and Egypt Air.

The Intourmarket and MITT Fair
March 11-16, 2017
One of the most important results of participation in this event was the good reaction and credit Egypt  achieved at the Russian news agencies

The International Tourism Spain Trade Fair Fiture.Madrid-  January 18 to 22,,2017.
 FITUR is a global meeting point for tourism professionals and the leading trade fair for inbound and outbound Ibero American markets. Its focus is sustainable tourism.

 Indian campaign: A campaign with the participation of 10 companies in cooperation with the Mumbai office in four Indian cities, Mumbai, Bangalore, Islamabad and New Delhi, from 8 to 12 May 2017.

Arab market campaign : on 27/5/2017 a promotional campaign for the Egyptian tourist destination in the Arab market, throughout Ramadan until Eid al-Fitr which targets several Arab countries as: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan to encourage Arabs and foreigners living in the Gulf countries to visit Egypt.

Trip Advisor campaign : It is one of the most famous sites in the world in the field of tourism and travel. The campaign was launched  in 5 tourism  markets :England, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. It began from June and continued until December 2017.

Internal campaign :  It was  organized at the Pyramids area in order to encourage inter- tourism. Additional shows of sound and light were presented in Arabic in the Pyramid area  every Friday.

World Wide campaign:   The campaign began on September 2017, and  will continue until January 2018.

It was launched in a number of tourist markets, notably Germany, Ukraine , Poland and  England .

Stefan Sharawi campaign:   Stefan headed an advertising campaign .He is an Italian player of Egyptian origin. He isknown as the Pharaoh in Italy. The campaign was launched on 14/10/2017 during the match between AS Roma and Naples, and it will continue during the current football season.

Rami Ashour campaign :He is an    Egyptian squash player. He  participated in a large number of Arab and international championships. On October 2017, the Tourism Promotion Authority cooperated with him to promote tourism.

Germany campaign : The promotional campaign about Egypt on Germany TV channels .The most notable channels "VOX-RTL-DRV-SKY-SAT1".It began on November 27 for 3 weeks .

2017, followed a trend towards the development of new types of tourism such as :Medical tourism,Religious tourism, Conference tourism, Festival tourism and other promising  tourism products such as archaeological discoveries.

On 2017 , Egypt paid more  attention to therapeutic tourism due to its importance as it is a good source  of income that would increase Egypt’s  revenues and  can generate to Egypt a wide range of  investments and attract a new kind of tourists .

Measures taken to enhance medical tourism are as follows:-

Establishment of the Higher Supreme Committee for Medical Tourism ,
On 20 December 2017,the Egyptian Cabinet approved the establishment of a Supreme Committee for Medical Tourism assigned to take over preparations for a general plan project for the medical tourism system in Egypt.

The committee’s mission is to choose hospitals and human resources that can benefit the system and put into place the mechanism and follow ups. The committee is also responsible for monitoring the work to ensure that the service is functioning.

The move came within implementing recommendations of the conference held at Sharm El-Sheikh city in March under the theme of Egypt and Medical Tourism.

The committee aims to support Egypt’s role in carrying out the sustainable development plan of 2030. Meanwhile, the committee wants to lure foreign investment to Egypt for the establishment of projects that serve medical tourism and encourage participation of the civil community and private sector.

 A draft law for Medical Tourism Law
Therapeutic tourism is considered one of the types of tourism that can be developed to attract a new type of tourists, especially with Egypt's nature in the Red Sea, Safaga and Helwan.
 Committees of energy, environment, health and tourism were formed in the middle of the second session of the parliament to prepare a draft law of Therapeutic tourism including the following:
- A precise map of the current situation of the tourism areas, showing the natural characteristics of those areas.
- Conducting visits to identify these sites on the GPS and determining the access road, and identifying  the readiness of these sites to be  included on the tourist map of Egypt.

 
Egyptian initiative aims to create “A World Free of Hepatitis C”

For the activation of therapeutic tourism campaign " A World Free of Hepatitis C” , Prime Pharma, who produced Virus C treament, has been using international football celebrities to promote medicine including world football star Lionel Messi who visited Egypt on 21/2/2017 as part of the campaign.
On 19/7/2017 the star of the French football team and the former Arsenal club "Robert Perez" from France  was on a visit to Egypt for several days to promote therapeutic tourism in Egypt within the  context of the campaign.

Putting   Siwa Oasis on the international tourism map.
 The aim of  the tourism conference on  "Balanced Tourism Development and therapeutic Tourism" held from March 29 to 31, in Siwa Oasis, Matrouh Governorate, in coordination with the University of Alexandria is to put  Siwa Oasis on the international tourism map.
Egypt &Medical tourism conference
On March 23-25 2017, Sharm el-sheikh witnessed  "Egypt and Medical tourism conference" under the auspices of his Excellency President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi.The aim of the conference is  to shed light on the medical tourism in Egypt and Egypt's access to its share of this kind of tourism.

Siwa  natural protectorate  has published a guide called “Siwa Oasis Guide and the  hot sand bath Therapy “to preserve this ancient heritage of Siwa people and to promote the therapeutic tourism and environment activities conducted in the Oasis usually  from July until the end of September each year.  Lots of patients come annually from all over the world for the treatment of hot sand baths.

II Religious tourism
In 2017 efforts are intensified in supporting religious tourism as a new type of tourism .

Sinai: The Forum of divine religions conference
 A conference on heavenly religions, entitled "Sinai: The Forum of divine religions ", kicked off on Thursday 28/9/2017 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. The three-day conference was held under the aegis of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The conference highlighted Sinai's religious and archeological monuments, especially the city of St. Catherine, which has the oldest monastery in the world.

Egypt announces Vatican-approved pilgrim trail of the Holy family's journey from Sinai to Asuit  Under the slogan "Pope of Peace in the Land of Peace", the Pope visited Egypt on 28 and 29 April 2017, to invite the tourists around the world to visit Egypt and it was  a strong push to restore tourism back to  Egypt.

It has been pointed out that the inclusion of the path of the Holy Family on the map of Egyptian tourism is in favor of promoting the pattern of religious tourism to the world's Christians, especially the Catholic doctrine, which may attract segments of tourists from around the world and cast more from the light around the Egyptian tourist destination.

III Tourism Conferences and Festivals
2017 witnessed a lot of conferences and festivals which effectively contributed to the popularity of the cities where these festivals were held .The most prominent series of conferences are  as follows :

 On November 2017, World Youth Forum held in Sharm El Sheikh .
 
 On December 2017,Africa Conference

 On November 2017, Cairo International Film Festival

 On September 2017,El Gouna International Film Festival

On February 2017, Aswan International Festival on Women's Cinema

 On March 2017,Sharm el Sheikh Festival on Arab and European Cinema

IIII Archeological discoveries

Archeological discoveries are considered  as tourist promotion tools, especially if the discovered icon  is of  great historical and unique  value. The so-called tourism of the discoveries can be one of the tourism types that attracts tourists from different countries.

Some of the archaeological discoveries of 2017 like Psamtik statue at mataria  and the large cemetery  found at TOUNA EL GABAL in  Minya    received great public  attention. At the same time   ,in May a temporary exhibition was held at Luxor Museum to expose the items discovered in April in the tomb of the judge of Thebes dating back to  the 18th dynasty .The exbition was entitled  "Camp 157"

Also the exhibition "Creative artists of the city monastery .. 100 years of research and French excavations in the monastery of the city 1917-2017)”, was held  on 21/12/2017  in the Egyptian Museum  and included about 52 artifacts discovered During the French excavations, as well as documents from the archives of the Institute ,the diaries of exploration and rare photographs.
 
Hereinafter the most distinguished discoveries of the year:

On 9th December2017,   Two old  tombs uncovered at Luxor.  The first tomb  dating  back to the 18th dynasty .. King Tuthmosis khartosh was found   on the ceiling of the longitudinal hall of the cemetery. Also more than 100 funerary seals were found.

On 7th December 2017, the remains of two fortresses were discovered at west  Ismailia by the Egyptian –Italian excavation mission.

On 4th December 2017 ,Tomb remnants under Imam Shafie dome  unearthed
 On3rd  December 2017,The discovery of 27 full statues and parts of the "Sakhmat" found at "Amenhotep III" temple  in the West Bank . And the statues discovered are made of black granite reaching a maximum height of about 2 meters.

On November 23,2017,two archaeological discoveries were made in komobo by the joint Swiss-German excavation mission representing 18th dynasty

On November 21,2017,Remains of 3 ships dating back to Roman era  were discovered in Alexandria 

On November 17th 2017 ,Rock with hieroglyphic writing was found out in Benha

On November 14th 2017,a Mummy was discovered at Fayoum dating back to the Greco-roman era .It was found in a wood sarcophagus.

On November 7,2017 ,Egypt's first 2300-year-old gym unearthed in Hellenistic era.

 On October 4th 2017,the discovery of part of the obelisk of  The king peppy at Saqqara.  

        
 On March 2017,King Psamtik I statue was unvcovered at Matariya .In addition to the archaeological evidence of the largest statue of the god Ra Hor Akhtiu and the  remains of the statue of King Ramses II and other statues found in 10 October 2017.

On October 4 2017, New rock inscriptions uncovered at Aswan dating back to Stone Age
On November 30 2017 , Head of a statue of King Akhenaten  was unveiled in the city of Tel el-Amarna in Minya
 
On September 9, 2017: Tomb of Amenhoth  was  found out in Luxor.
          
On Oct 9,2017  The Egyptian-German Archaeological Mission unearthed during its work in Matariya's Souq el Khamis a large number of artifacts such as the lower part of King Psamtik I statue whose upper part was discovered in March.
On August 15,2017 ,three Ptolemaic tombs unearthed in Menya. An archaeological mission of the Antiquities Ministry unearthed three tombs dating back to the Ptolemaic era in the Upper Egypt governorate of Menya.

It has been noted that the newly-discovered tombs would uncover more information about the age, noting that several Ptolemaic tombs were previously found.The newly-discovered tombs are different in their design from the previously discovered ones.
On July 27th 2017,Murals  were discovered at Ana Bishoy Monastery in Wadi el Neutron dating back to 9th and 13th century.

 On July 24th 2017, An ancient tomb was discovered  in a plot of  el Shariqeya land in the east, which was dismantled and transported by scientific  archaeological mission .

The most important discovery after the Rosetta Stone is deciphering of  the painting "Abuhusha"at El  Baheria. It was considered the  second most important discovery of Hieroglyphic manuscripts after the Rosetta stone.

 On July 19th 2017 , Inscriptions &writings of the Islamic era were found out  in the cave within the range of  the Golden Triangle.

 On July 4th 2017,An archaeological manuscript of the "Hippocrates" was discovered in St. Catherine Monastery. The  archaeological manuscript  was found by the monks during the restoration and registration of the Library of St. Catherine Monastery in South Sinai.

A new archeological discovery at the temple of Harshef in Beni Suef.

The discovery of a huge Catacomb cemetery at Tuna  mountain in Minya. They are  graves engraved in the earth or in the rock

  On May 5th 2017, An ancient funerary garden  was discovered  in Luxor in cooperation with the Spanish mission.

On April 18, 2017,  1050 small statues at the tomb of Oster Hatt in Luxor were  discovered, where 6 coffins and 1050 Oshepti statues were discovered in the cemetery of the 18th family  related to the  "judge of the city" in the area Abou El Naga  arm  in the western sector of Luxor.

King Bsmatik I statue  was discovered. The Egyptian-German joint expedition in the area of Al-Matareya succeeded in the discovery of the statue of Naba,it was  the name of King Basmatik I of the 26th Dynasty. He ruled for fifty-four year (664-610) BC

Remains of a wooden vessel  from the era of the ancient state "Abusir" were uncovered. This came as part of the excavations carried out by the mission of the Czech Institute of Antiquities of the Faculty of Arts - University of Charles in Prague.
 Exhibitions

The Ministry of Antiquities is keen  to hold exhibitions that contribute to the promotion of tourism. Some organised exhibitions are as follows:

The temporary exhibition of "The golden age of the builders of the Pyramids" opened at its sixth stop in Toyama city, the seventh in Shizuoka city and Fukuoka city of Japan.

The temporary exhibition "Sultan Babar's al-Bandakdari and his age" was opened at the National Museum of Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, which included 22 artifacts from the Sultan Biebers era, for two months.

An exhibition entitled "Egypt: The Extraordinary Discovery of Pharaoh Amenhotep the Second" opened at the new cultural museum in Milan, Italy (where 9 pieces of antiquities were exhibited).

The exhibition of  "Weapons at the Eighteenth Century" opened at Rasheed  ,and the exhibition of  "Egypt the cradle of religions"  opened at the Egyptian Museum and the exhibition "Martyrs of Egypt" opened in the Coptic museum.

The temporary exhibition at Luxor Museum on the "Discoveries of the Egyptian-German Mission" on the western bank of Luxor, was opened with the presence of Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO and the Governor of Luxor.

The temporary exhibition "Abu Simbel: 200 Years on the Death of the World Burkhart" was held at the Egyptian Museum in the presence of the Swiss ambassador in Cairo and in cooperation with the University of Basel.

As part of the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the excavations of the Ministry of Antiquities in Sinai, the Ministry of Antiquities, in cooperation with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, organized an exhibition entitled "Thirty Years of Excavations at the Eastern Entrance of Egypt 1987-2017" at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Organizing a temporary exhibition at the Egyptian Museum under the title "Treasures of Tutankhamun Unseen" featuring 86 gold pieces, of which 55 pieces were presented for the first time to the public.

Cultural tourism &Museum
 
, 2017 witnessed the inauguration of a lot of a cultural tourism projects such as: the development of the Islamic Museum, the Aisha Fahmy Palace,Mohammed Naguib Museum, the Rummel Museum,the Sahaba Mosque and other projects  on cultural tourism.

Islamic art museum has restored its beauty after it  has been renovated by Egyptian experts who removed the effects of the Black terrorist aggression as it was affected badly by the bombing of the Cairo Security Directorate in January 2014

On 7/2/2017,the  hunting  museum at Mohamed Ali Tawfik Palace in Manial was opened . It comprises about 2000 pieces of mummified birds, reptiles, predators and pets

Opening  of Sahaba mosque. It was located in Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai Governorate at the old commercial market area with a total cost of 30 million LE.

On 15 February 2017,Museum of Civilization was inaugurated partially in  the presence of Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO.

On 1/4/2017 , villa of the birds was opened in the Roman theater area in Alexandria .It has been discovered by the polish archaeological mission.

On 17/5/2017 ,Aisha Fahmy Palace in Zamalek was  reopened after immense renovations that revived the glorious bygone days of this antique house.

On 20/7/2017,  President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi   inaugurated Mohammed Naguib Museum, located in the city of Hamam in the province of Matrouh

Rommel Cave Museum was reopened .The re-opening comes seven years after the museum was closed.

On 1/11/2017 ,the opening of the workers' cemetery in the mountain region of the pyramids area for visitors .This event  witnessed the arrival of foreign tourists from all over the world for the first time since its discovery 27 years ago.

On 1/10/2017 ,the opening of the museum  building in the New Valley Governorate, after completion of construction works.

The  world's second oldest library  was opened at St. Catherine's Monastery on 16/12/2017 after its 4-year development at a cost of $ 2 million.

Visits
 
2017 witnessed various  famous figure visits  to Egypt  , presidents , football players,stars..etc . Those visits contributed to  flourishing tourism sector.  Here are some examples:

On 9 December 2017, President of Guinea Alpha Conde visited  Sahaba Mosque in Sharm El Sheikh in South Sinai. Conde praised the Islamic architectural style of the mosque which is located in Old Market area.

The African leader's visit to the mosque came on the sidelines of Africa 2017 Forum held in the resort Egyptian city. He commended security in the city.

On 30/11/2017, Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage and Hilary Swank spotted at Pyramids. Nicholas Cage and Hilary Swank, esteemed Hollywood actor and actress, visited the pyramids of Giza, as the film stars were in Egypt attending the closing ceremony of the Cairo Film Festival for Friday night.

They visited the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the statue of Sphinx, and the archaeological panorama area.

The stars were keen to take photographs at the pyramids, publishing them on their social networking sites. They were evidently excited to visit Egypt and the historical sights, expressing an admiration for Egypt’s ancient Egyptian civilization

On 16/11/2017,Zambian president paid a visit to the pyramids, Sphinx

On Saturday, 11/11/2017, King Farouk's family began their tour to   Aswan in a Turkish tourist group consisting of 12 people, including some members of the royal family and a number of their friends, headed by Prince Abbas Hilmi.

On October 23,2017, Miss Universe 2016, Iris Mittenaere, arrived in Cairo for a week-long trip across the country.

The 24-year-old French beauty queen has been looking forward to visiting the country for a long time. Mittenaere came to Egypt to encourage tourism and to offer practical educational programs for children in Luxor such as pottery apprenticeships.

On 28/10/2017,Patrick Kluivert, the Dutch national team player and former Barcelona club, visited the pyramids area of Giza .

On 24/10/2017, The President of the Republic of Mauritius, Amina Gharib Fakim visited the pyramids on the sidelines of her Official visit  to Cairo.

On 13 October 2017, Alexandria Film Festival's 33rd edition honored the French starlet Beatrice Dalle for her long career in European and international cinema .Dalle stated that Egypt is safe, and she visited many landmarks in Alexandria and the Pyramids before leaving Egypt.

On September 2017, Filipa Barroso, Miss World Portugal 2017, visited the tourist and archeological sites of Aswan province on  a three-day tour aimed at promoting Egyptian tourism and pharaonic monuments in Upper Egypt.

On 24/9/2017, the Rwandan Ambassador to Cairo, Sheikh Saleh Habimana, visited the Nile museum during his tour in Aswan.
Saudi Prince and businessman Alwaleed bin Talal toured Sharm el-Sheikh, where he participated in a cycling race and  mountain climbing, propagating for tourism and investment in Egypt.

On 8/8/2017,The TV star and American fashion designer Courtney Kardashian visited the pyramids accompanied by the director of the pyramids, where she entered the Great Pyramid and watched the panorama and the sphinx.

On 20/7/2017, a group of international football stars visited the pyramids of Giza and took pictures with their fans.

The Vice-President of Argentina visited the   Giza pyramids and the Sphinx.

On 6 July 2017, Brazilian football idol Ronaldinho toured the plateau of the Giza  Pyramids as part of his second visit to Egypt during which he launched his humanitarian organization and promoted Egypt's Tour n’ Cure medical tourism campaign. During the visit, the 37-year-old voiced admiration with the historic site. He said: "Coming back where it all started! Cairo is amazing!"

 On 2 and 3 July 2017,a delegation of experts and scientists visited " the complex of religions ,as part of their tour in Egypt, on the sidelines of their participation in the conference, "Egyptian  Woman can “".

 On 1-9 July 2017,The US youth basketball team, which participated in the FIFA U-19 Women's World Cup, was hosted by Egypt and toured the pyramids.

Australian activist ran 300km along Nile River for water crisis
Mina Jolie, an Australian activist and lawyer, ran 300 kilometers along the Nile River through Cairo, Luxor and Aswan as part of her initiative to change global perceptions of water usage and consumption.
In a press conference on 25 April2017 , Jolie said her global initiative entitled "Run for Water" aims to raise awareness and provide solutions that effectively contribute to solving the global crisis of water scarcity.

On 16/3/2017, Ambassador Nabila Makram, Minister of State for Migration and Egyptians Affairs Abroad, was accompanied by the sons of the second and third generations of Egyptians abroad, on a tour around the tombs of Tel Amarna in Minya, to encourage  inter- tourism and raise awareness among the Egyptians abroad.

On 14/3/2017 , Prince Henrick of Denmark visited the Great Pyramids of Giza

On 14/3/2017, a team of 11 international travelers, led by Norway's Helge Pedersen, visited Egypt on their journey from Cape Town, South Africa to  Aswan, Luxor, Hurghada, and the Giza Pyramids. Their journey was from 7-16  March, 2017.

 On March 5,2017 ,Will Smith visited Giza Pyramids with his family. Smith's visit was to support tourism in Egypt and promote its archeological sites.

On 21/2/2017  World Player Lionel Messi of Barcelona and the Argentine national football team visited  Egypt for about seven hours. This was watched live by the whole world to announce the participation of the world star in the publicity of the Egyptian program "Tour and Cure" for medical tourism and  the treatment of virus C through medical drugs produced by Egypt.

Travel &Aviation

On 25/12/2017,Marsa Alam airport received the first flights of the "Air Cairo " coming from the Italian city of Milan, carrying 170 Italian tourists as the first tourist group to open the new line.

On 15/12/2017 , Russia and Egypt signed a deal to resume commercial airline flights between Moscow and the Egyptian capital of Cairo starting February .

On 3/12/2017,President Al-Sisi at Cairo International Conference on Communications and Information Technology (Cairo ICT),  launched the Egyptian e-Visa portal project as a first phase of the national integrated project for the development of technological work mechanisms at the Passport, Immigration and Nationality Authority Information Centers.

On November 2017,Safaga received the flagship "Main Chef 5" for the first time with 3500 tourists on board. It was  one of the world's newest cruise .

 On 31/10/2017 ,a new airline between Marsa Alam and Brussels airports  was inaugurated .

 On 30/10/2017, Air Cairo's first regular flight arrived  from Milan to Sharm El Sheikh .

On 29/10/2017 ,Marsa  Alam Airport celebrated  the arrival of 171 Ukrainian tourists  on the new line of Marsa Alam as the first Ukrainian tourist group .

 
On 29/10/2017,Egypt Air resumed flights to Japan after a four-year hiatus.
 
On 28/10/2017 ,Hurghada Airport received the first flights of a new Belgian airline .It has been scheduled to organize four flights a week from Brussels to Hurghada.

On 30/10/2017, Thomas Cook resumed flights from Birmingham to Marsa Alam after a 9-year hiatus.

On 22/10/2017 ,the arrival of the first direct tourist trip from Uzbekistan to Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport .It is one of the new markets for tourism.

On 22/10/2017,Luxor Airport received the first direct flight from Tokyo carrying 85 Japanese tourists .

On 22/10/2017, the first direct flight coming from Charles de Gaulle Airport in France to Luxor  International Airport  arrived  after several years of stop .

 On 13/10/2017,Sharm El Sheikh Airport received the first regular flight "772" from Denmark.