‘Black Watch' cruise ship، with 526 tourists of different nationalities on board has docked at Safaga Port, to visit Aswan and Luxor's tourist attractions and archaeological sites, Spokesman for Red Sea Ports Authority Malak Youssef revealed on Saturday. Youssef said in a statement to reporters, the authority has succeeded in easing the arrival procedures of the ship and finished all tourists' inspection procedures. Tourism officials expect an increase in the number of tourists visiting Egypt in the coming period، as European countries started to lift the ban imposed on Sinai. US, Russia along with other European countries have issued bans on flights from and to Sinai، after a Russian passenger plane was downed over Sinai، in October 2015 ، leaving the entire flight crew members and passengers dead. The port is located in the Red Sea Governorate on the Western coast of the Red Sea. It is a broad bay (natural gulf) on a distance of 60 km South of Hurghada and on a distance of 225 nm. South of Suez port. This broad bay is naturally protected from the east and the north sides from the prevailing western winds by mountains. The port drafts are deep، thus enabling the accommodation of large vessels، according to Maritime Transport Sector (MTS). Total number of tourists who visited Egypt reached 640,179 tourists in February 2016، according to Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). Egypt has been trying to boost tourism sector by organizing celebrities visits including famous American actor Will Smith, Spanish club Barcelona star Lionel Messi, who took private tours of the pyramids, and Indian actress Parineeti Chopra visited Luxor tourist attractions in March.
