Cairo: Egyptian authorities agreed on Thursday to cut fees on filming in archaeological sites in an attempt to revive the country’s flagging tourism.

The new fees, which will take effect in November, are based on duration packages and filming categories, officials said.

Under the new system, foreigners wishing to shoot feature films in such locations will be charged 15,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh6,250) for one day of filming, LE60,000 for a weeklong period, LE90,000 for two weeks and LE150,000 for a month.

These fees are lower than by more than a half for Egyptians with the aim of supporting the local film industry, one of the world’s oldest.

“Fees for shooting documentary films have been decreased for foreigners to 5,000 [Egyptian] pounds for a day, 20,000 for a whole week, 30,000 for two weeks and 50,000 for a month” said Mohammad Ramadan, an official in the Ministry of State for Antiquities. He did not give specific figures about current filming fees.

However, local media reported that the new fees are nearly 50 per cent lower than the current ones.

Egypt, known as the Hollywood of the East, was a popular destination for Arab and Western filmmakers. However, interest has dwindled in recent years reportedly due to exorbitant shooting fees and red tape.

“This decision will remarkably encourage producers of films to shoot their works inside Egypt after they have recently moved to other countries,” Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al Anani said.

“This will help in the return of the tourist movement to Egypt and show its archaeological treasures to the world,” Al Anani added in a press statement.

The targeted locations include archaeological areas, museums, mosques, churches and monasteries.

Tourism, a major foreign currency earner for Egypt, has been in the doldrums since the unrest that followed the 2010 uprising.

In October last year, tourism received a new hard blow when a Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt shortly after its departure from the popular resort of Sharm Al Shaikh. All 224 people on board were killed.

The downing, claimed by the Daesh terror group, prompted Russia to halt flights to Egypt. Russians accounted for 31 per cent of the 10 million tourists who visited Egypt in 2014, according to official figures.

Tourism used to contribute 11.5 per cent of Egypt’s national gross product.

About 9.3 million tourists visited Egypt last year, a 6 per cent drop compared to the previous year, according to Tourism Ministry.

A record 15 million had visited Egypt in 2010.