Egypt's publishers hope book fair can boost slumping sales
The high number of visitors to the Cairo Book Fair, the second largest of its kind in the world, came as a pleasant surprise.
Egypt has launched the region's largest book fair late last month despite hard economic times, which have led to a decline in the number of publishers as well as dwindling book sales.
The 48th Cairo International Book Fair opened on Jan. 26, with 670 publishers from 35 countries. The countries have included 16 from the Arab world, six from Africa and 13 from other parts of the world.
This year's fair, which will run through Feb. 10, has had about a hundred fewer Egyptian publishers and 50 fewer Arab publishers than last year.
Last year saw a record number of participating publishers totaling 850 from 34 countries. This year, a total of 670 publishers, including 451 Egyptians, 200 Arabs, 13 international and six from African countries, took part. Publishers last year totaled 550 from Egypt, 250 from the Arab world and 50 foreign publishers.
