How can sustainable tourism development and nature conservation combine to benefit local residents? Rehab Saad finds the answer on the southern Red Sea coast The Red Sea area is one of Egypt's major tourist attractions due to its crystal clear water, rich marine life and stretched beaches which naturally attract hundreds of thousands of tourists all year round. It has also allured many investors to put their money in hundreds of hotels and holiday villages. However, in the Northern Zone of the Red Sea, including renowned Hurghada and Safaga, tourism development has focussed on appealing to high numbers of tourists at low profit. This approach has damaged the environment, destroyed natural habitats and caused pollution, altogether posing a threat to biodiversity. It has also rarely taken into consideration the well-being and livelihoods of local and indigenous people, overlooking their current and future basic needs. Over the last decade, both investors and travellers directed their attention to the southern parts of the Red Sea, including Hamata, Marsa Alam and Shalateen along a 1,800km stretch of coast, due to their diversified wealth and virgin nature. These include mountains, dry river courses, Roman ruins and unique desert wildlife, while their marine environment is also incomparable with a treasure of coral reefs, various coloured fish species, mangrove stands and seagrass meadows. In order to prevent the fate of the northern part occurring in the south, the Egyptian government -- represented by the Red Sea governorate, the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) -- partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Livelihoods and Income from the Environment (LIFE) Project, to ensure more sustainable development in that region. "The project's purpose is to promote sustainable, natural and cultural tourism development that meets the needs of present tourists and local residents, while protecting and enhancing economic opportunities for the future of the Red Sea region," according to John Dorr, chief of party, LIFE Project. Dorr added that the project has three levels, namely the conservation and management of the natural and cultural assets of the area; the promotion of sustainable tourism; and support community development by engaging local Red Sea residents in economic, social and cultural benefits generated through tourism-based activities. "One of the major objectives is to try to get more money from tourism," he continued. The idea is to depart from what is called mass tourism, which is the case in Hurghada where as many visitors as possible are brought in and spend very little money. Instead, new destinations are created so more affluent tourists are willing to pay more to go there. "So instead of bringing 100 tourists who spend no money, you bring ten who spend ten times as much money because they want to see the fossil beds, the Ababada museum, the Roman ruins, the mangrove areas and to watch the birds," argued Dorr. "These tourists are not interested in lying on the beach doing nothing." He further explained that attracting fewer, yet wealthier, tourists will also benefit the environment. Electricity and water for one tenth of the visitors will not cost as much, and there will be less solid waste which will reduce the environmental impact, he explained. The LIFE project has a budget of $20.5 million that includes three components: an integrated water resources management project; a lead pollution remediation and clean up in Qalyoubia governorate; and support to sustainable economic growth in the Red Sea governorate. The total contract value of the Red Sea component is $12.7 million which is expected to increase by $3.65 million, bringing the total contract value to $16.5 million. The contract was initiated on 17 January 2005, with a project completion date of 6 September 2008. Among the programme's accomplishments so far, is assisting the EEAA declare the protection of 14 new islands in the Red Sea -- totalling 1,700 square kilometres -- thereby preserving important sensitive habitats and species. Also, the enrollment of 25 students from local communities in the Red Sea in a three-year tourism programme in the German tourism school of El-Gouna, subsequently leading to guaranteed job opportunities in five star hotels in the area. Furthermore, the engagement of 77 women in producing handicrafts, and hiring 22 local residents in permanent jobs in Wadi El-Gemal Protectorate in Hamata. The project also completed the design of a house reef management system that will enable hotels in the Red Sea to establish reef protection programmes, and provided $174.1 million in financial support to the operating expenses of the Wadi El-Gemal rangers, as well as supplying them with monitoring and field equipment, vehicles and boats. Among LIFE's important projects is the implementation of the community-based solid waste systems in Marsa Alam, Hamata and Shalateen. "We are teaching locals how to sort waste at resorts and how to separate between organic and inorganic," explained Khaled Fahmy, LIFE's deputy chief of party. "Organic waste will be used for animal feed, while non- organic waste will be sorted in recovery facilities to be traded, reused, and recycled. This project will be in operation starting June." Fahmy continued that this project is essential in areas like Hamata, where the camel market there results in much waste. It is also vital at the village of Sheikh Shazly -- west of Marsa Alam -- where a big moulid dedicated to Sheikh Shazly attracts some 400,000 visitors annually who leave much waste behind. "About 250 families in Hamata and 50 families in Sheikh Shazly will make use of this project," asserted Fahmy. In a recent visit to Red Sea sites of USAID projects and UN World Food Programme (WFP) initiatives where the US is the main donor, US Ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone told reporters he is a proponent of US investments in the Red Sea. Speaking at a joint news conference with Red Sea Governor Major General Bakr El-Rashidi, Ricciardone added that he believes that tourist development and protecting the environment can go hand-in-hand and strengthen each other. Ricciardone further told Al-Ahram Weekly that his tour is proof that he believes that tourism "is a very important and valuable industry". This is not only because of the livelihood and economic well-being it provides, but also for the education it provides. "This, at a time when people speak of clash of civilisations and extremism, and are trying to implement hate and division across cultures," he elaborated. At the same time, he supports investment in responsible tourism which does not make a quick cheap profit at the expense of the environment or traditional culture, "but tourism that celebrates ancient monuments in Cairo or in other places." Ricciardone pointed out that USAID not only builds water, sewage and power plants, schools and infrastructure, but also works to preserve the Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic monuments of Egypt. "We also develop environment-friendly eco- tourism and cultural tourism," noted the ambassador, who visited tribal groups in Wadi El-Gemal who have suffered a ten-year drought and the encroachment of modern world. "We are assisting some in the hotel business and NGOs to help them preserve their own culture and celebrate it, and show it off to foreigners." The focus, Ricciardone explained, is on issues which the private sector doesn't pay attention to and the government doesn't have resources for, and projects are chosen in conference with the Egyptian government. "We try to do things that might not be done otherwise and that would contribute to sustainable development," he stressed. In tourism, for example, he recently visited Al-Qusseir fortress -- a minor fortress among Egypt's rich monuments -- "but we thought if we help restore it and turn it into a visitor's centre, it will be educational, attract attention and draw support of local business and the government. They will treasure and preserve it, and then exploit it better," Ricciardone asserted.
