The number of tourists who converged on Egypt in 2004 reached 7.5 million compared to 1.4 million in 1982, according to a report by the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre on Friday.

The number of floating hotels and tourist villages reached 1,408 in 2004 in comparison to 234 in 1982.

In 2004, the number of tourist rooms jumped to 136,500 compared to 18,100 in 1982, the report said.

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 21, 2005.

A [Turkish] newspaper highlighted the fact that Egyptian tourism has recently flourished as Egypt has become a tourist attraction to all foreigners.

Comhuriyet newspaper out Friday pointed out that Egypt has become a strong competitor to Turkey in the field of tourism and, therefore, Turkish travel agents have moved their work to Egypt.

The paper pointed out that the number of Turkish tourist offices has dramatically increased in Egypt and the offices started to transport Russian tourists to Egypt in large numbers, the paper said, quoting reports by the Research Centre of the Mediterranean Tourism Union.

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 21, 2005.

The discovery of lecture halls at Kom Al-Dikka has generated popular interest, hasty conclusions and a number of revelations.   Jill Kamil assesses the evidence.

The Polish mission at Kom Al-Dikka in Alexandria has made several exciting finds over the years, but their latest discovery hard on the heels of the establishment of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has set tongues buzzing.

Grzegorz Majcherek, director of the Polish-Egyptian mission which has been excavating at Kom Al-Dikka for the past 40 or more years, insists that overzealous journalists have rather too hastily linked this latest discovery in Alexandria to the ancient library...

[More]  Al-AHram, Egypt, 726, 20 - 26 January 2005.

The CT scan carried out last week on Tutankhamun's mummy has triggered a fierce debate among archaeologists.   Nevine El-Aref investigates.

When the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) launched a five-year project to examine and study all Ancient Egyptian mummies by means of CT scanning in order to ascertain how they can be best conserved, the idea was applauded.

Eleven mummies in the Egyptian Museum were scanned. However, when it came to the turn of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, some archaeologists and scientists were none too happy.   While the project's supporters saw it as a revolutionary endeavour to resolve the mystery surrounding the early death of Tutankhamun, its opponents suggested it was more of a media circus than pure science.   A media campaign launched to question the usefulness of the procedure and its results accused the Egyptian mission who carried out the CT scan of being unprofessional, ambiguous, reckless and impatient to implement its attempt...

[More]  Al-AHram, Egypt, 726, 20 - 26 January 2005.