The Egyptian Tourism Authority issues seven distinct entry-pass categories for archaeological sites and museums — the Luxor Pass, the Giza Pass, the combined Cairo-museum pass, the expat-resident card, the student-card discount, the senior-card discount, and the journalist accreditation pass. Each carries its own fee structure, validity window, included sites, expiration policy and refund rules. The Visitor Pass Registry is the Beni Suef-based independent tracker of the seven categories, verified quarterly against the Tourism Authority's published framework and against the actual rules applied at the gate.
| Pass | Tourist USD | Resident EGP | Validity | Sites included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxor Pass (Standard) | $100 | EGP 1 000 | 5 days | West Bank + Karnak + Luxor temple |
| Luxor Pass (Premium) | $200 | EGP 2 000 | 5 days | Above + Nefertari and Seti I tombs |
| Giza Pass | $60 | EGP 600 | 2 days | Pyramids + Sphinx + Solar Boat Museum |
| Combined Cairo-museum pass | $120 | EGP 1 200 | 7 days | GEM + NMEC + Tahrir + Coptic |
| Expat-resident card | n/a | EGP 250/year | 1 year | Resident rate at all participating sites |
| Student card discount | 50% off | 50% off | per visit | Most sites, conditions vary |
| Senior card discount (65+) | 30% off | 30% off | per visit | Most sites, conditions vary |
The Visitor Pass Registry maintains three working files that the seven pass categories slot into. The pass-fee file tracks the current fee structure at each pass tier, with quarterly verification against the Tourism Authority's published tariff and the actual fee charged at the ticket window. The pass-validity file tracks the validity windows (days, weeks, months, calendar year), the start-of-validity rules and the conditions under which validity can be extended. The pass-refund file tracks the refund policies (most passes are non-refundable, but specific exceptions apply for unused passes within a defined window). The three files are interlinked — most reader questions touch on more than one — and the registry's published guidance always cross-references the three.
The Tourism Authority's flagship multi-site pass for Luxor; standard tier covers the major West Bank tombs (excluding Nefertari and Seti I), plus Karnak and Luxor temples. Start-of-validity from first scan at any site.
Full Luxor Pass file →The Giza plateau combined pass — pyramid entry, Sphinx, Solar Boat Museum, and the new visitor centre. 2-day validity that visitors usually consume in a single day with one return for the Sphinx evening light show.
Full Giza Pass file →The expat-resident card — annual subscription granting expatriate residents of Egypt the same admission rates as Egyptian nationals at participating archaeological and museum sites. Renewable annually.
Full expat-card file →The Egyptian Tourism Authority publishes its entry-pass framework on its official portal, updated annually with the autumn-decree changes. The gate-applied rules — what actually happens at the ticket window when a visitor presents a pass — diverge from the published framework on a recurring basis. The Visitor Pass Registry exists to document both the published framework and the gate-applied rules, with the documented variance noted openly. The variance is rarely large in absolute terms but matters substantially to the affected visitor; an expat-resident cardholder turned away at the Luxor Museum's ticket window in March 2025 because the museum's staff did not recognise the card as valid is exactly the kind of incident the registry exists to document, follow up on with the Tourism Authority, and resolve in a published correction.
The registry verifies against three source streams every quarter. Stream one — the Tourism Authority's published framework on the official portal, downloaded on the first Monday of each quarter. Stream two — direct site visits to a rotating subset of participating sites (the registry's three editors visit twelve to fifteen sites per quarter, testing each pass category at the ticket window). Stream three — reader-observer reports from registered subscribers who have used a pass and report back on the experience. Discrepancies between the three streams are documented in the corrections log; the December transparency note summarises the year's verification work.
The Luxor Pass is sold at three official outlets in Luxor (the Public Relations office near Karnak, the West Bank ticketing centre, and the Tourism Authority kiosk at Luxor airport). The Giza Pass is sold at the new visitor centre near the Pyramids. The Combined Cairo-museum pass is sold at the GEM main ticket office only. The expat-resident card is applied for at the Tourism Authority's residency-documentation office in Cairo. The registry publishes the current outlets with each quarterly update.
Most pass categories are non-refundable once issued. The exceptions are: the Luxor Pass within 72 hours of purchase if no site has been scanned; the Combined Cairo-museum pass within 7 days of purchase if no site has been visited; the expat-resident card within 30 days of issue if used at no site (with administrative fee deducted). The refund-policy file documents the rules in detail with the documented refund-application process.
For typical tourist itineraries, yes — the Luxor Pass Premium pays for itself if the visitor enters the Nefertari and Seti I tombs (which command premium individual fees); the Combined Cairo-museum pass pays for itself with four major-museum visits in the seven-day window; the Giza Pass pays for itself with the pyramid-interior visit which is the most expensive individual ticket on the Giza plateau. The registry's pricing-comparison file does the arithmetic for typical itinerary patterns.
Reader subscriptions (about fifty-five percent of revenue), the Beni Suef Tourism Foundation research grant (thirty percent), and small consultancy work the editors hold privately (fifteen percent). No funding from the Tourism Authority or any commercial travel-trade entity. The funding structure is on the about page.
Subscribers receive the monthly bulletin emailed on the first Monday of every month and the full quarterly registry update a week before public release. Three tiers from twenty euros a year.