“There is perhaps no institution on earth whose opening has been as wildly anticipated, or as mind-bogglingly delayed, as the Grand Egyptian Museum,” the New York Times noted in a photo essay in its travel pages. Ahead of the museum’s official (and full) opening on 3 July, the paper noted — to the delight of the Tourism Ministry — that “even the museum’s incomplete offerings [before the grand opening] — along with the building itself and its [bn-USD] views — are staggering.”

Good press around the Grand Egyptian Museum is what we like to hear, with the USD bn+ project being an important part of the state’s plan to increase tourist footfall from 15.7 mn last year to 30 mn tourists a year by 2030.

WHILE IN LESS WELCOME TOURISM NEWS- Environmental groups are raising alarm over plans to develop Ras Hankorab on the Red Sea, Reuters reports. The currently fenced-off beach, located 90 minutes from Marsa Alam International Airport, could soon be home to dozens of tourist huts and a restaurant that conservationists say could damage one of Egypt's last untouched marine habitats.

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