Editorial | Visitors deserve to enjoy Egyptian heritage on display free of chaos
Museum organisers have taken steps to control overcrowding, but bottlenecks must be addressed to ensure a smooth run of the rare exhibition
The Hong Kong Palace Museum suspended walk-in ticket sales for the “Ancient Egypt Unveiled: Treasures from Egyptian Museums” exhibition at 11am on Sunday. The day before, many visitors were left fuming after having to wait up to 90 minutes to enter the temporary exhibit. Lack of information and poor crowd control led to some demanding refunds.
Crowd bottlenecks must be worked out. The museum expects to attract more than 700,000 visitors over the nine-month run of the largest display in the city of relics from the ancient civilisation.
Baher Sheweikhi, Egypt’s consul general for Hong Kong and Macau, said he was confident that the exhibition featuring 250 historical artefacts, including mummies, statues, jewellery and more, could translate into business opportunities. Top officials from the North African nation have said Hong Kong plays a “pivotal role” in Sino-Egyptian relations. They voiced high hopes for boosting trade and tourism with the city through cultural exchanges.
Sheweikhi said the exhibition at the West Kowloon Cultural District could raise awareness of the country and lead to more investment opportunities. Egypt and China will celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations next year. Hong Kong has an important role to play in ensuring that the deep cultural legacies of those great nations and many others can be freely shared and appreciated.