UNITALSI visits Holy Family's journey stops through Egypt

CAIRO – 10 February 2018: The Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Hesham Badr, organized an orientation trip with a delegation of the National Italian Union for Transporting the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines (UNITALSI) to visit the Holy Family's journey stops through Egypt.

The delegation includes fourteen representatives of various religious and political parties. The delegation is accompanied by a number of Italian news agencies, such as ANSA and Rai News 24.

Egyptian Tourist Organization Director Emad Fathy asserted the importance of this visit, as UNITALSI is responsible for organizing Catholic pilgrimages to many destinations, such as the Virgin of the Lord in France, as well as sending pilgrims to Bethlehem in Palestine and Santa Fatima in Portugal.

On Tuesday, the delegation visited the ancient churches of Egypt, including the Hanging Church, Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, the Coptic Museum and the Church of the Virgin Mary in Maadi.

Preziosa Terrinoni, head of UNITALSI, expressed her great pleasure in visiting Egypt and the warm welcome they received, asserting that the visited places were ready to receive tourists and pilgrims. She added that these places are well-equipped to receive tourists with special needs, who represent a large segment of the tourists.

She said that UNITALSI has already included the path of the Holy Family in Egypt as part of its Christian pilgrimage programs organized for 2018 and confirmed that it will prepare for the start of flights to Egypt this year.

Reviving the path of the Holy Family’s journey will lure a large number of Christian tourists worldwide to visit Egypt.