Tourism usually does not interest political activists, but French academician Sandrine Gambline came to another conclusion after observing neo-liberal market policies in Egypt and their impact on the economic, social and environmental status of the country.
Tourism usually does not interest political activists, but French academician Sandrine Gambline came to another conclusion after observing neo-liberal market policies in Egypt and their impact on the economic, social and environmental status of the country.
Residing in Egypt, Gambline—Political Science Professor and Coordinator of International Relations Master Program at the French University in Cairo— managed to closely monitor the relationship between the development of tourism and the political objectives of the ruling regime at various stages of the modern Egyptian state. She believes that the current Muslim Brotherhood regime is troubled, being caught between its need for tourism revenues on the one hand and its association with allies who have a radical attitude against tourism on the other.
When did tourism begin to affect the Egyptian economy? Abdel Nasser regime propaganda, for example, was heavily dependent on manufacturing and agriculture.
Under Abdel Nasser, there was a development of Egypt’s cultural monuments. The concept of tourism at that period meant “cultural” tourism related to monuments and historical places, especially Pharaonic. However, the purpose of this development was political rather than economic, as the government issued a multilingual magazine to promote the Egyptian Pharaonic monuments in line with Abdel Nasser’s politics.
Tourism and monuments have often played a concealed diplomatic role. Transferring Abu Simbel Temple was a way to restore relations with the government of France after cutting them completely after the 1956 war when French archaeologists played a major role, to the extent of posing the picture of Abdel Nasser and de Gaulle at the Tutankhamen exhibition in Paris in 1966.
It is worth mentioning that several sectors were not covered by nationalization, including tourism. The Egyptian government and Hilton Worldwide jointly administrated Hilton Hotel, which was opened in the late 1950s. Since the development of the tourism sector requires huge funds, the state refereed this mission to the private sector.
How did the status of tourism change with Sadat’s politics?
Globalism has greatly activated investments in this sector. The first step in this direction was to sell public properties to the extent of considering renting the Pyramids for an American company between 1976 and 1977 to turn the region into a theme park! However, this situation did not turn into a state strategic policy except under Mubarak since the number of tourists coming to Egypt was not great and the size of the global tourism in general was not huge.
How did the situation change under Mubarak?
In the late 1980s, Egypt witnessed a deep economic crisis and the economy was on the brink of collapse. Then, the Gulf War took place in the early 1990s and Egypt was a strong ally of the United States in its war against Iraq. Subsequent to offered facilitations, Egyptian debts were rescheduled and the regime began to accept the terms of the International Monetary Fund in neo-liberal economic reforms, where tourism was at the top funded sectors. Tourism was the first sector the Egyptian government agreed to privatize at the beginning of the 1990s when it was promoted that tourism is the driving force towards development and prosperity.
The World Bank financed infrastructure projects in Sinai and the Red Sea for the development of tourism. The political and economic elite in Egypt agreed with the outside world on the need to develop the tourism sector in order to create a positive image of Egypt as a quiet and stable country thus attracting greater investments.
Has this policy succeeded in attracting more tourists?
If we consider the figures, we would find that in the early 1980s, the number of tourists reached one million and with the beginning of the 1990s it reached two million, which caused a media fanfare, while in 2010, it amounted to 14 million.
Thus, we witness a significant change over twenty years in Egypt noting that this number is deemed small against the global tourism market. Turkey is visited by 27 million tourists every year and Tunisia – with a population of 10 million people – is visited by nearly 12 million. Tourism is important because it is the most important source of hard currency, but the Suez Canal and the current Central Bank dollar crisis have been caused by the decline of tourism.
With these new politics, how did tourism’s form change?
From the 1960s to 1990s, tourism was mainly based on cultural tourism. Since the 1990s, tourism development adopted a different direction in line with the requirements of the global tourism market ruled by the theory of ‘Sun, Sand and Sex’. This is important to understand what happened over the last fifteen years in Egypt. International demand has changed since tourists coming to Egypt are no longer interested in visiting the pyramids and the monuments of the south such as the Red Sea and Sinai.
In response to this changed demand, empty regions that were not known as touristic places such as Safaga and Marsa Alam went under development where an international airport was built at the latter and touristic villages began to spread, leading to rapid development in the area. In addition, an agreement with the International Tourism Organization was held to develop new areas outside the Nile Valley since terrorism incidents in the 1990s declined the desire for the Nile or its historical monuments.
I believe that terrorism was a pretext to avoid tourism in the Nile Valley, but the most important reason was the discovery of new areas more suitable for the international demand for tourism. Thus, laws have been regulated to protect investments in the tourism sectors. In early 1990s, Tourism Development Authority was established in order to distribute international institutions funding among local investors to develop tourism projects. It was independent of the Ministry of Tourism and responsible for tourism outside the cities.
It could be said that many have made fortunes from working in tourism since the 1990s. The government gave great facilities where the price per square meter in Sinai was almost one dollar. Therefore, it was not surprising that the ministers of tourism were the first brought to trial by Mubarak himself in his final days such as former Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garana who is currently in prison, the owner of one of the largest tourism companies and the Minister of Housing Ahmed Magribi, who is accused of selling lands to tourist companies. This shows the extent of corruption in this sector.
How did this trend affect tourism development?
First, touristic resorts and hotels built in Sinai and the Red Sea destroyed the nature of those regions. Gardaga was completely turned into a concrete city and the natural coral reefs that could have been seen fifteen years ago a few meters away from the beach were withdrawn many kilometers into the sea.
What about the economic and social level?
On the economic and social levels, there were several ways to locally reallocate funds coming from tourists including ‘commission’ system, one of the means by which tourism income is distributed to the greatest number of people at the local level. The primary beneficiary was the tour guide who brought a group of tourists to certain shops to buy their souvenirs benefiting in turn, store owners, their employees, product manufacturers and the young guides in the city center who accompany tourists to historic areas and touristic products workshops in return of a charge. Such means allowed the distribution of the tourism income at a broader level. An economic study revealed that 70 economic sectors benefit directly and indirectly from tourism, but the effect of fifteen years of touristic activity monopoly and moving tourism outside of the valley to the new touristic areas closed the door for these social groups. Since late 1990s, migration of the youth from Luxor and Aswan towards the Red Sea began affecting the social, economic and family level.
How do you perceive the tourism situation after the revolution?
I doubt the official figures announced by the government claiming that the number of tourists in 2012 was between 11 and 12 million, but hotel occupancy in the Nile Valley from Cairo to Luxor was very low. When talking about the touristic areas in Sinai and Red Sea, the government claimed that the tourism occupancy rate is between 60 to 70%.
What about fears of the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamic rule?
The 2011 parliamentary elections program of the Freedom and Justice Party did not include a lot on tourism except for one sentence, “We should work on the reformulation of tourism to help the Egyptian economy in line with our values and ethical principles.” We do not know what ‘principles’ and ‘values’ the Muslim Brotherhood would apply, but it should be mentioned that tourism planning from Mubarak’s time is sufficient enough for them.
Tourism could be planned as closed bubbles, far from populated areas with no significant connection between European tourists – who constitute the largest proportion so far – and the large segments of the population. Thus, tourists would come and leave quietly as there is enough space for different types of tourism. Tourism bubbles allows the co-existence of a resort, containing alcohol and bikinis next to another one with strict religious restrictions.
Do you believe, however, that there is a tendency to make this juxtaposition?
There are now two discourses in relation to tourism. The one of the Ministry of Tourism confirming things to remain the same regardless of the Brotherhood’s rule announced by the Minister of Tourism in Dubai a few weeks ago, saying they are not against bikinis or alcohol, and the one stated on official television by the Salafists, who support destroying the Pharaonic monuments just like in Afghanistan when Buddha statues were destroyed. Such discourse represented a pressure on Morsi’s regime, where the Muslim Brotherhood cannot abandon their Salafist allies so far and the impact of such an inclination has a negative impact in Europe.
Could the regime not replace tourist groups heading to Egypt to avoid the Salafist pressure?
This trend is initiated in line with the government’s diplomatic strategy, which is to cancel tourist visas requirement for some Arab and Islamic countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Turkey, in other words, replace European tourists by other touristic groups.
The Minister of Tourism was in Dubai in order to encourage Arab tourism, an old goal of the Ministry of Tourism. However, figures indicate that the percentage of Arab tourism in the 1990s was about 40% of the total tourism coming to Egypt and is now only about 22%. This decrease, despite all publicity and investments, occurs mainly because of the different needs between Arab and European tourists. Arabs desire to head to Sinai and Red Sea is still limited.
During the last period, there was a tendency towards Iranian tourism being compatible with what appears to be a new policy of Morsi’s regime, namely rapprochement with Iran. Indeed, the first Iranian tour group came last February, but this caused a great debate led by the Salafists, who perceive Iran as an enemy on the grounds of ideological difference between Sunnis and Shiites.
This trapped the Muslim Brotherhood between their stated policy of tourism rapprochement with Iran and the pressure of the Salafists to prevent it. On the other hand, the stated figures of the Iranian tourism prospects seem small. The Minister of Tourism announced that the purpose is to reach 200 Iranian tourists a year with gains of up to $250,000,000. These numbers are very low compared with the cost of security protection of the first Iranian regiment visit and political problems caused by this tourism with the Salafists.
