From diving with Queen Cleopatra to sand skiing, from cruising the Nile on a felucca to fishing for the biggest perch on Lake Nasser, there are a myriad original ways to spend vacations in Egypt. Travelling to Egypt has always been an adventure and travellers have always had many options as to what to do once they got there. Traditionally, people converged on Cairo before embarking on a Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan in Upper Egypt where they could enjoy the ancient sites, the dry warm weather and the picturesque Nile scenery. There are also those who prefer Sharm El-Sheikh or Hurghada on the Red Sea coast, where they can enjoy sand and sun, the coral reefs and the incredibly rich marine life. Others still opt for an ecolodge on a private island in Siwa, but the more adventurous can take a wheel drive on an expedition to Golf Al- Kebir in the southwestern desert, or tour the White Desert to the west. Those who have good lungs and strong legs can dive in the Mediterranean off Alexandria and discover the sunken treasures in the eastern harbour or the wrecks of warships and aeroplanes dating from World War II, which that slumber offshore from Marsa Matrouh. Increasingly there are golf in addition to sand-skiing and water sports facilities. Such incredible resources have made tourism one of the most important sectors in the Egyptian economy and its main foreign currency earner. To the detriment of the country at large, tourism did not initially survive political turmoil in the aftermath of the January 2011 Revolution, however. Security breakdown, successive waves of unrest and (later) a dramatic rise in the rate of terrorist attacks across the cities of Egypt followed the toppling of former president Hosni Mubarak and persisted until that of Mohamed Morsi. Over three years Egypt lost some $60 billion with many foreign countries warning their citizens against travelling to the country. In 2010, with 15 million tourists, tourism had recorded a revenue of $12.5 billion, 11 per cent of Egypt's GDP and 14.4 per cent of its foreign currency revenues. By 2011, the figure had dropped dramatically to $11.5 million, picking up again in 2012 with 11.5 million tourists and US$10 billion in revenue but cut short in 2013, the worst ever for the industry. Since the presidential elections took place and relative stability was restored in 2014, with countries like Germany and Italy deeming Egypt safe for their citizens, recovery has been steady. The number of tourists in September rose by a whopping 193 per cent compared to the same month in 2013. The Information and Decision Support Centre reported that Egypt welcomed nearly 884 thousand tourists in September, compared to the 301 thousand in the same period of the previous year. Tourist numbers recorded a 76.7 per cent increase year-on-year in August, the sharpest rise in three years, after several European countries had announced the removal of travel bans imposed on Egypt in February, when a bomb blast on a tour bus in South Sinai killed three South Koreans and their Egyptian driver, raising concerns about safety in Red Sea resorts. The September figure represents a 11.4 per cent fall compared to the numbers seen in August 2014, which had exceeded 997 thousand. The number of nights tourists spent in Egypt in September increased by 704 per cent, to register 8.8 million, compared to 1.9 million nights during the same month of the previous year. Tourists spent a total of 11 million nights in the country in August 2014. “Tourism is set to boom over the next period, especially after all foreign countries lifted the travel ban,” said Magdi Selim, head of the domestic tourism sector at the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA). A further positive impact of lifting the warnings, he pointed out, was that it “will send positive messages globally”. Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said the number of tourists coming from some Gulf countries increased in the third quarter of this year by 300 per cent compared to the same period last year. “I am very optimistic. I expect that by 2016 tourism revenue will surpass the 2010 figures,” asserted Zaazou. He told Sky News that “I feel more comfortable, confident, that it will take a trend upwards, maybe on a zig-zag basis sometimes because I don't claim we are there 100 per cent as we used to be before the Egyptian revolution. But I think we are moving in that direction and that's why I'm happy.” The past four months have seen an increase in the number of visitors, mainly from Europe and particularly from the UK and Russia. According to a report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of visitors from Eastern Europe increased to 997,000 tourists, compared to 564,000 in August 2013. According to Elhami Al-Zayyat, the head of the Egyptian Federation of Tourism Chambers, however, the number of Russian tourists declined this month due to the decrease in the currency rate of the ruble by 25 per cent, because the United States is tightening the rope around Russia's neck by reducing oil prices, Russia being one of the biggest oil exporters in the world. He went on to say that the biggest problem in the tourism industry is dependence on a specific nationality, which makes the sector subject to any change in the international economic balance. “The challenge that is facing the tourism sector is the decrease in the rate of visitors despite the increase in the number of visitors,” Al-Zayyat pointed out. He expects that the sector would not regain its original heyday before 2016, asserting that no complete recovery is possible unless “we think out of the box and change the way Egypt looks in the eyes of consumers. We need a new, incessant policy to promote tourism to Egypt and to stop depending so much on tour operators and travel agencies.” Several ideas to promote Egypt must be lined up for the future. One suggestion Al-Zayyat brought up is extending new promotional channels through inviting 1,000 bloggers from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India, New-Zealand, the United States, Canada and Britain to participate in a photo competition about Egypt and honour the first three winners. The photos, he explained, would be posted on a daily basis on these bloggers' popular sites. In return for a $750 ticket per blogger, “it would be free, widespread promotion of Egypt.” For its part the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) plans to attract 100,000 tourists from South Africa during the current fiscal year, 2014-2015, according to an official from the authority. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the Ministry of Tourism is in communication with EgyptAir to encourage travel from South Africa, while simultaneously providing incentives for foreign tourism companies. According to the official, average spending by South African tourists reaches approximately $120 per night, making them the highest-spending tourists in Egypt. Another idea is to organise honourary ceremonies for people who had left their mark on Egyptian civilisation such as the French Egyptologist Christiane Noblecourt, who died in 2011 after playing a major role in the preservation of the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the High Dam in the 1960s. The same applies to English Egyptologist Sir Alan Gardiner who died in 1963 after studying middle Egyptian grammar and the correlated list of hieroglyphs. He also cracked the so-called Proto-Sinaitic writing system by deciphering the B'alat inscriptions. Honouring figures like these two Egyptologists is another way of promoting Egypt in France and Britain, who will appreciate such events, raising the number of tourists. “Egypt has finally started such policy,” Al-Zayyat said, explaining that on 18 December Egypt and Italy will celebrate 110 years since the discovery by Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli in 2014 of Queen Nefertari's tomb at the Valley of Queens on Luxor's west bank. Al-Zayyat says Egypt must find ways to attract high spenders tourists to visit Egypt like Australians, Chinese and South Americans. This was the case in the 1990s when the average tourist spent $140 a night in Egypt as compared to $60 now, and $85 in January 2011. “We cannot continue to attract low-spending tourists.” Currently the average income of a hotel is $35 per night per capita. “This is very meagre in the face of rising operational costs.” Low spending tourists affect the quality of services provided such as the hotel's ability to spend on maintenance and renovations. The average tourist now expects an all-inclusive experience for $25 a night, a policy that has affected the reputation and final revenues of Egyptian tourism. It has also affected the tastes of visitors, drawing them away from Luxor and Aswan. Until now the situation in Luxor and Aswan is catastrophic with 283 floating hotels having stopped operating due to the weak tourist flow. He went on to say that the recent visits to the United States, France and Italy embarked on by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi comprise yet another channel to promote tourism that will not bear fruit until next year. “This is a good PR policy for tourism though they are political visits.” Similar visits could be carried to Germany and the United Kingdom. To support ailing tourism companies and troubled hotel projects, the federation has launched the tourism investment fund with a minimum value of $1 billion as a first phase; it will increase to $5 billion through the next few phases. The Ministry of Tourism will contribute LE50 million. The fund will help companies and hotels by buying shares in them in order to pay off their loans. After six or seven years when a given company has regained its financial strength it could re-buy the share it had sold at a profit. The fund will also support new investments in tourism. Promotion for the fund took place in the Gulf States in order to collect contributions for the first phase of the project, valued at $250 million. The fund received contributions from several Kuwaiti companies. According to the General Manager of Upper Egypt, Red Sea and Sinai at the ETA, Naama Tawfik, “indicators from the past six months are very promising and demonstrate that Egypt is on the right track to tourism recovery.” She added that the Ministry of Tourism is aiming to restore the 2010 indicators by the end of 2015 as Egypt witnesses a return of stability after the parliamentary elections. ETA aims to open new markets to attract tourism to Egypt, she added. The ministry intends to participate in 19 tourism exhibitions and fairs in Europe during the fiscal year 2014-2015. Tawfik explains that to reinvigorate cultural tourism, which was drastically impacted after 2011, a number of exhibitions of ancient Egyptian replicas are touring such countries as China, France and Germany. The Ministry of Tourism also signed a MOU with the Tourism Activation Authority (TAA), to provide chartered flight from specific points in the Gulf and Arab countries as well as foreign countries to Marsa Alam and Luxor in order to attract more tourists. “We have also encouraged local tourism through organising a number of musical concerts in Hurghada, Sahl Hashish, Sharm El-Sheikh and Al-Muizz Street in Historic Cairo.” Tawfik announced that, starting next year, the ETA is to launch tourism events with Opera Aida to be performed on the sound and light stage at Giza. The ministry will also celebrate the equinox of the sun at the Qarun Palace in Fayyoum and the equinox at Abu Simble Temple, where concerts will be held. “Africa is on top of the ETA list to promote tourism,” Tawfik explained, adding that this will be achieved through participation in several exhibitions there. The ministry's target is to increase tourism income to $10.5 billion in 2014-2015.
