BEIJING - China's biggest online travel agent is to offer Chinese travelers tailored cruises along Egypt and northeast Africa's Nile river, the first service of its kind, it announced on Thursday.

In a move supporting the recovery of the Egyptian tourism industry in the wake of the country's revolution of 2011, Ctrip is to begin selling tickets for the cruises at an as-yet unspecified time.

"Chinese tourists have never enjoyed exclusive cruises along the Nile. Now we have a Chinese-speaking crew, Chinese food and hot water on board," He Yong, a senior official of Ctrip.com, said on the sidelines of the China Outbound Tourism Market in Beijing.

Following the events of 2011, many Chinese tourists canceled trips to Egypt out of security reasons. But as the political situation has steadied, more and more Chinese people are willing to go back, He said.

Nile cruises became popular among European elites in the 1970s, and it now appears the 3,000-km river is set to welcome China's nouveau riche.