‘Floating book fair’ opens new chapter in Egyptian tourism

Monday, January 2, 2023

The floating library MV Logos Hope — the world’s largest ocean-going book fair — will dock in the Port Said tourist port this week on only its second visit to Egypt in more than 12 years.

The ship will open its floating exhibition to thousands of daily visitors in what the Suez Canal Economic Zone media office described as a major cultural event.

More than 350 passengers on board will also disembark to make tourist visits to Cairo.

The ship is scheduled to dock at Port Said on Jan. 4 after sailing from Beirut. It will stay in Egypt for 20 days before resuming its voyage to the port of Aqaba in Jordan.

MV Logos Hope first visited Egypt in 2010.

SCZONE has made special preparations for the cultural event, while security in the port and surrounding areas has also been stepped up.

The visit highlights the economic zone’s ability to accommodate cruise ships of all sizes and types, and will help attract more cruise ships to Egyptian ports, the authority said.

Visitors will pay a nominal fee to board the ship and join its activities. Children under 13 and those who are differently abled can enter for free.

The 132-meter long vessel is billed as the largest floating library in the world, and has more than 400 volunteers from 60 nationalities on board.

MV Logos Hope is owned by the German charitable organization Good Books for All.

The floating library contains more than 50,000 titles.

A short film screened in the reception area chronicles the ship’s visits to ports around the world, while interactive presentations introduce the public to the vessel’s work to promote reading.

The ship has previously visited the UAE and last August docked in the Libyan port of Benghazi.

MV Logos Hope has visited 480 ports in more than 150 countries and welcomed more than 49 million visitors in the past 13 years.

The ship shares its goal of “sharing knowledge, providing help and providing hope” in every port it visits.

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