CAIRO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Tourism Minister Yehia Rashid said Thursday that he expected to see a major tourism boom as result of a successful promotion campaign abroad.
Rashid told reporters that the Egyptian tourism promotion campaign in Arab countries is "very successful" and expected to lead to an increase in the number of Arab tourists to visit the country, the official MENA news agency reported.
Rashid said the closure of several offices of the Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) abroad was in line with the state's directives to lower costs, adding that no new offices will be closed.
The minister said his ministry is currently discussing upgrading sleeper trains to Luxor city to help increase the number of tourist nights per year to 1 million.
Egypt's tourism industry recently has been hit by several major terror strikes that have killed dozens of people since April and led to the state of emergency imposed ever since.
Meanwhile, Rashid disclosed that Egypt, in cooperation with the Vatican, will host an international conference on the Holy Family Route in Egypt in July.
Earlier Thursday, he held talks with Monsignor Liberio Andreatta, head of the Vatican agency for pilgrims, on promoting the Holy Family Route in Egypt.
