The 52nd round of the Cairo International Book Fair, running through 15 July, opened at Egypt's International Exhibitions Centre (EIEC) on Wednesday. The fair will receive the public, free of charge, starting Thursday, however. 

 

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and the Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem inaugurated the book fair. 

 

This year's edition features 1,218 participating Egyptian, Arab, and foreign publishers. 

 

The 52nd edition is held in four spacious halls at the EIEC with a total space of 40,000 square metres. The booths take up 18,600 metres only to allow visitors to roam freely while practising social distancing.

 

Twenty-five countries are participating in the fair this year, including, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Eritrea, Morocco, Somalia, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, KSA, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Japan, South Korea, Serbia, Russia, Greece, the UK, Spain, and the US.

 

The fair offers a a digital tickets platform this year, where visitors can book their tickets for free beforehand, to more evenly distribute the number of visitors allowed in each day. 

 

The General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO), the fair organiser, said the fair is open daily from 10am to 10pm, and that it will allow 100,000 visitors a day to access the fair.

 

Each individual is allowed to buy four tickets per registered phone number. Visitors are not allowed into the fair except on the day recorded on the ticket.

 

The digital platform also offers a list of the all the participating publishers and their locations in the four halls. It also offers a list of the activities taking place on a daily basis. Visitors can also get a virtual tour of the fair online.

 

Visitors should be wearing face masks and will have their temperature measured at the gate.

 

Book signing events are not allowed this year.

 

All the events and seminars will be broadcast online to maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

 

The GEBO is cooperating with the Cairo Transport Authority to provide 11 designated bus lines with a total of 85 buses.