Travel writer Lucie Duff Gordon was among 19th-century Europeans who spent long periods of time in Luxor. Famed for its Pharaonic sites, the Egyptian city’s dry air — warm even in winter — was recommended as respite for a range of ailments. Such was its appeal that British travel agent Thomas Cook, a major provider of Nile River cruises, opened a hospital for foreigners as well as locals.
Egypt’s authorities are hoping to revive that legacy as they seek to carve out a bigger slice of the global healthcare tourism market — worth around $34 billion last year according to Grand View Research — and compete with more established destinations such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in providing services from major surgical procedures to dentistry and cosmetics. The government sees the drive benefiting from the North African country’s location at the crossroads of three continents, and working in tandem with a booming hospitality industry that’s ridden out the worst effects of the Middle East’s recent conflicts. At the Grand Egyptian Museum last month, it launched online services designed to help international patients access care more easily.
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