Published on : Monday, June 18, 2018
The tourism ministry of Egypt in an official statement informed the chief of its Tourism Authority Ahmed Youssef received on Sunday the Italian tourists, who came to Egypt via Italy’s National Italian Union for Transporting the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines (UNITALSI), a union dedicated in arranging religious trips. The visit is part of the efforts of the ministry to slot in the trip from Bethlehem via Egypt by the Holy Family (Joseph, the Virgin Mary and Jesus) in the global religious tourism map.
Many religious leaders are accompanying the tourists, including the Bishop of the Italian city of Viterbo, the Bishop of the Coptic Church in Rome and Torino, as well as the head of UNITALSI and a delegation of Italian journalists.
The tourists will bring their trip close to an end on 21 June.
Rania El-Mashat, the Minister of Egypt Tourism has welcomed the visitors and explained that the ministry has arranged a programme for the delegation that comprise visiting many locations as part of retracing the path of the Holy Family through Egypt.
As per Youssef, the visit comes years later the ministry organized an orientation trip for the UNITALSI delegation to visit Egypt.
Last February, the Italian religious travel association said it would be organizing religious trips to Egypt.