CAIRO, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- As the Chinese people welcomed the Year of the Horse during this year's Spring Festival, many travelers chose to spend the holiday among the temples, pyramids and museums of Egypt, drawn by its cultural depth and growing travel convenience.
From the bustling streets of Cairo, past the pyramids of Giza, through the temples of Luxor and Aswan, to the shores of the Red Sea, Chinese tourists have experienced Egypt's iconic landmarks.
"Yesterday we visited the pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, and today we're planning to explore the Egyptian Museum and old downtown Cairo," said Liu Dan, a traveler from Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, who came to Egypt with her family during the holiday.
She added that Egypt is one of the world's oldest civilizations with an incredibly diverse and rich history that blends ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Islamic cultures.
Liu noted the deepening people-to-people exchanges between China and Egypt. On her flight from Guangzhou, she met an Egyptian tour guide who had studied Chinese at a local university. "His Chinese was almost as good as a native speaker's -- communication was seamless," she said.
For Han Shu, a Chinese teacher at Henan Normal University in central China's Henan Province, Egypt was the third stop on his family's independent overseas journey, after Thailand and Uzbekistan. Traveling with his child, he carefully planned the trip around historical landmarks, with their itinerary including Cairo and a Nile cruise to Luxor.
"We love cities rich in ancient civilization and full of cultural charm," said Han.
At Luxor Temple, Youssef El-Hady, a Chinese-speaking tour guide, was leading a group of Chinese visitors after finishing another tour at the Karnak Temple complex.
"For us as guides, the Chinese Spring Festival is an annual season we look forward to every year," he said, noting that this year has seen a noticeable increase of Chinese visitors compared to previous years.
Egypt received a record of nearly 19 million tourists in 2025, up 21 percent from the previous year, statistics showed.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt reached 360,000 in 2025. Egyptian officials said the country targets attracting 3 million Chinese tourists by 2028.
Mohamed Othman, head of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee in Upper Egypt, said Chinese tourism is currently achieving record levels, expressing confidence that Chinese tourists will become a major contributor to Egypt's tourism market in the coming years.
