Beni Suef- Pearl of Upper Egypt- and its Role in Sustainable Tourism Development

Beni Suef province is one of the most promising provinces in Upper Egypt, characterized by a strategic location, integrated vision and executive expertise that contribute to put the province on the investment and tourism map. Beni Suef is one of the most important provinces located south of Egypt's capital, Cairo, with many important touristic attraction places in the province. It is characterized by the presence of many Pharaonic, Islamic, and Coptic relics, as well as a museum containing many monuments from different periods such as Roman, Pharaonic, Greek, Coptic and Islamic, in addition to Wadi Sannor Cave Protectorate Area, where this cave dates back 65 million years. The main data collection method involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews with government officials at General Authority of Tourism Development, second phase involved a questionnaire administrated to students at the faculty of tourism and hotels- Beni Suef University, where third phase involved a questionnaire conducted with a sample of citizens in Beni Suef governorate. The paper recommends that the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities should merge Beni Suef governorate in the path of the Holy Family as an attractive tourism product, where the governorate is considered a link between the points of the path of the Holy Family located in Cairo (at the Virgin Church in Maadi) and the same track points located in Minya (the first of which is Jabal Al-Tair), also, Beni Suef governorate in collaboration with the General Authority of Tourism Development should spread tourism and archaeological awareness among the masses of the citizens of Beni Suef adjacent to tourist and archaeological sites in order to cooperate easily with tourists.