130218_Luxor-Egypt SECAP Final

Figure 11: Impression of the City of Luxor, West bank and its heritage sites
Until December 2009, City of Luxor was part of Qena Governorate and later was administratively separated
to become a separate Governorate “Governorate of Luxor” according to the Presidential decree 278 of
December 9 th , 2009. The Governorate area is almost 2960 km 2 . According to the Central Agency for Public
Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in Egypt, in 2015, the total population of the Governorate of Luxor was
1,141,041 residents while the city of Luxor reached 573,420 residents representing about 50% of the
Governorate’s population.
The City of Luxor is the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. The name Luxor comes from the Arabic al-
ʾuqṣur ‏,(الأقصر)‏ literally "the palaces" from the collective place of qaṣr, which may be a loanword from the
Latin “castrum” for “fortified camp". The Arabic name of the city remains “al-Uqṣur”.
Luxor is known as the “World City of Heritage” and registered as UNESCO heritage site. It has frequently been
characterized as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak
and Luxor stand within the modern city where thousands of tourists come every year from all around the
world to visit these monuments, contributing greatly to the economy of the modern city. The city has 15
main heritage sites of high tourism interest.
The East bank encompasses 5 main cultural and touristic attractions: a) Luxor Temple; b) Karnak Temple; c)
Luxor Museum; d) Mummification Museum; and e) Winter Palace Hotel, whereas, the West bank includes 9
major sites: a) Valley of the Kings; b) Valley of the Queens; c) Medinet Habu (memorial temple of Ramesses
III); d) The Ramesseum (memorial temple of Ramesses II); e) Tombs of the Nobles; f) Deir el-Medina (workers'
village); g) Deir el-Bahri (Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut); h) Malkata (palace of Amenophis III); and i) Colossi
of Memnon (memorial temple of Amenophis III). Despite these rich sites, the City of Luxor suffered
considerably from a low influx of tourists between 2011 and 2014.
The Governorate of Luxor economy is based on tourism, farming, commerce, and antiquities related activities.
The Governorate of Luxor depends mainly on agriculture and tourism, but the city of Luxor largely depends
on tourism. This sector represents more than 22,800 jobs - nearly 10% of the total labour force of the city as
of 2015 census (288,500 jobs).
Agriculture land forms 73.8 per cent of the Governorate of Luxor, whereas the urban areas form about 19.4
per cent. Main crops are sugar cane, wheat, vegetables, tomatoes, beans including lentils, and bananas. The
agro-food sector employs 3,354 persons and accounts for 1.2 per cent of labour forces. The industry focuses
mainly on manufacturing and employs 7203 persons (2015) representing about 2.5 per cent of the labour
force. The rest of the labour forces 255,087 jobs (approx. 88 per cent) get absorbed in sectors such as
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