Tourism
Going domestic
(cairolive.com, June 13, 2002) The Ministry of Tourism has decided, according to Al-Akhbar, to conduct more in-depth studies of the domestic tourism market. Tourism Minister Mamdouh El-Beltagui acknowledged recently that there were no methods currently in place to measure the rates of domestic tourism.
As such,  Beltagui said the Ministry has decided to work closely with various players in the local tourism industry to determine the scope of domestic tourism in every part of the country. He also indicated that the goal of the new research is to determine both the scope of domestic tourism, as well as details regarding the ways and means travelers use to go where they are going.

Health
More and more smoke
(cairolive.com, June 13, 2002) According to a study covered by a recent Al-Wafd front page, there has been a significant increase in the number of smokers in Egypt over the past two decades.
The latest Ministry of Health study indicates that 13 million smokers consumed 85 million cigarettes in 2001, up from 60 million cigarettes in 1979.  The study also reported that there are a million smokers under the age of 15.
In an attempt to curb these levels, a team of doctors and health officials at the ministry, says the paper, have been conducting research for an anti-smoking campaign which will include attempts to pass tough new anti-smoking laws.

New developments
Egypt to help build Syria's opera house
(cairolive.com, June 13, 2002) Al-Ahram reports that the Egyptian Opera House will be helping the Syrian Ministry of Culture build an Opera House in Damascus. The venue is to be named the “Al-Assad Center for Culture and Music”, and technicians and operatic arts experts from Egypt will be assisting their Syrian counterparts over the next few months. The paper says the goal is to get the Syrian opera up and running by later this year.

Miscellaneous
Death of a director
(cairolive.com, June 13, 2002) Egyptian director Radwan El-Kashif passed away at his home last week as a result of a sudden heart attack.  Although he only produced three films in his career, El-Kashif received 40 international awards for his work, 38 of which were for his second film, entitled “Araq Al-Balah” or “Date Wine", a surreal epic depicting an upper Egyptian village where all the men but one have gone abroad to search for work. Interestingly enough, “Araq Al-Balah” only played in Egypt for a week, but was showing in Paris for six months straight. 

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