CAIRO, EGYPT — Let me put my cards on the table: I love Egypt.
The ancient history.
The majestic Nile River.
The great pyramids.
The sprawling deserts.
The kind and generous people.
And, most of all, God’s great love for Egypt.
Only Israel is mentioned in the Bible more than Egypt.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived here, along with Joseph and the entire nation of Israel.
The prophet Jeremiah lived in Egypt.
And, of course, Joseph and Mary brought the Lord Jesus here as a young child to flee from King Herod.
I first came to Egypt in 2005, bringing Lynn and our sons — even Lynn’s mom — to live here for three months as I worked on several books, including EPICENTER, my first non-fiction book about Israel and the Arab/Muslim world.
We loved every minute of our visit. The kids especially loved the sights, sounds, and smells, including riding camels in the deserts, taking a dinner cruise on the Nile, swimming in the pool of a hotel near the pyramids, seeing ancient mummies, and the golden treasures of King Tut, and so many other fun adventures.
All these years later, I can say that now is a great time for Evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews from the U.S., Canada, Israel and all over the world to come and see the splendors of ancient Egypt.
Under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country is once again safe from terrorism and extremism.
The horrors of the Arab Spring and the Muslim Brotherhood’s reign of terror from 2011 to 2014 or so is long over.
The American dollar has strengthened dramatically against the Egyptian pound.
And Egypt is about to open its new, high-tech, state-of-the-art, $1 billion museum right next to the pyramids.
“Egypt has welcomed seven million tourists in the first half of this year, putting the country on track for its projected 15 million visitors in 2023. After reaching a record 13 million tourists and earning $13 billion USD in 2019, Egypt’s tourism sector was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Already by mid-year, some 7 million visitors had visited Egypt.
A total of 15 million are expected by year’s end, which would be a record.
That’s an increase of 46% over last year.
Tourism revenue is up 121%.
And el-Sisi’s team is planning for dramatically higher growth.
“We are on track for our national tourism target to reach 15 million tourists this year,” said Egyptian Minister for Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Eissa.
“We’re expecting 18 million tourists next year,” he added. “Our strategy focuses on increasing the number of flights that come to Egypt, to enhance the touristic experience for our visitors and increase the number of hotel rooms.”
Lynn and I have loved being back in this marvelous, magical, mysterious and biblically rich country this week, and bringing some of our extended family for their very first time.
Why not pray about bringing your family here soon, too?
