Saint Catherine receives 1,295 tourists in a single day

CAIRO – 26 November 2017: More than 1,295 tourists visited Saint (St.) Catherine, Sinai, on Sunday. It is expected that the historic city will witness larger waves of visitors in the coming months, celebrating the feast of St. Catherine on December 9.

The Red Sea town is famous for its heritage sites including St. Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai. Tourists can climb Mount Sinai overnight and enjoy spectacular views especially at sunrise, including rock formations and landscape.

Tourists from all over the world, including Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Italy and the United Kingdom, come to stay in camps, guesthouses and hotels in and around St. Catherine.

The city is an important destination for followers of the world's three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as they value the region and its more than 200 religious sites.

St. Catherine is famous for its mountains with its high-altitude desert ecosystem providing a home for many endemic and rare species living in valleys, natural pools, springs, creeks and narrow canyons. Tourists can also visit uniquely beautiful Bedouin gardens in the valleys surrounding the mountains.

St. Catherine is a jewel, located between giant granite rocks of the South Sinai Peninsula at the edge of El-Tur Mountains and at the foot of Sinai's high mountain region. Mount Catherine is the highest mountain in Egypt, with breathtaking views across the mountains to the Red Sea. During the drive up to St. Catherine, one has the chance to witness magnificent mountain ranges changing colors and shape. The place is considered holy and contains rich historical and religious heritage. Known as Mount Horeb in the Old Testament, it is believed to be the place where Moses, after spending 40 days and 40 nights in the mountains, received the Ten Commandments from God. At the foot of the Mount Sinai sits the Monastery of Saint Catherine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Monastery has been well preserved since its establishment in the sixth century, making it one of the oldest monastic settlements in the world.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt has received around 5.9 million tourists in the last nine months alone.