Travel

28 Mar 2023; MEMO: Egypt plans to offer tourists a multi-entry, five-year visa for $700 in a bid to boost tourism, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities has announced.

According to a report in Anadolu, Ahmed Issa told reporters on Monday that further moves have been approved to encourage foreign tourism. They include a decision to facilitate the entry of Iranian tourists, as well as other facilities for Chinese, Indian, Moroccan and Algerian nationals.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: A hidden corridor, nine metres (30 feet) long, has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

28 Feb 2023; MEMO: Egypt's historic Mosque of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, named after the sixth Fatimid Caliph and located in old Cairo, was re-opened for visitors on Monday, 27 February, after renovations, Reuters reports.

The renovation project for Egypt's fourth oldest mosque, and its second largest, began in 2017 with a budget of 85 million Egyptian pounds ($2.8 million).

15 Feb 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian Antiquities Ministry yesterday announced the discovery of a Roman-era coffin at the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman Cemetery which was unearthed last year in the northern Gaza Strip

The coffin was made of lead and likely belonged to a prominent Roman official, according to an official from the Antiquities Ministry. Adding that the coding has not been opened.

26 Jan 2023; MEMO: Egyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital, Cairo, containing what may be the oldest and "most complete" mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader said on Thursday.

27 Dec 2022; MEMO: iFly Airlines has notified tour operator Tez Tour about the forced cancellation of all international flights from Russia to Egypt due to the lack of permission to use Jordan's airspace and restrictions on overflight imposed by several other countries, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

iFly airline asked the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency to allow it to fly through Syria, but the agency refused, considering it unsafe.

06 Nov 2022; MEMO: Archaeologists in the UAE have unearthed what they consider to be the remains of an ancient Christian monastery on the Al-Sinniyah Island belonging to the emirate of Umm Al-Quwain.

On Thursday, the Umm Al-Quwain Tourism and Archaeology Department announced the find which included a church, refectory, cisterns and individual cells for monks.

11 October 2022; MEMO: Turkiye and Greece inaugurated a "friendship line" ferry link between the seaside town of Izmir in western Turkiye and the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Greek-based shipping company, Levante Ferries, announced "Smyrna di Levante" vessel started ferrying passengers this week.

The Thessaloniki-Izmir ferry line marks the first direct maritime link between mainland Greece and Turkiye, the report says.

12 October 2022; MEMO: The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhshd said yesterday that the first Iranian-made passenger plane will enter service within the next three years, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

The official's remarks came more than a month after President Ebrahim Raisi announced plans to build the first Iranian passenger plane.