DUBAI: There won't be a ban on bikinis or alcohol in Egypt just yet. According to the country's Tourism Minsiter Hisham Zaazou, the government has no intention of cracking down on women who wear bikinis or foreigners coming to the country and want to have a drink of alcohol. It comes as tension between the conservative Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood government has increased, especially concerning the tourism sector. Tourism is a pillar of the Egyptian economy but has suffered since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and set off two years of periodic rioting and instability. "Bikinis are welcome in Egypt and booze is still being served," Zaazou, speaking in English, told a news conference during a visit to the United Arab Emirates. "We had talks with these Salafi groups and now they understand the importance of the tourism sector, but still you have some individuals that are not from the leadership saying these things," added the minister, an independent who is not a member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. President Morsi's government increased taxes on alcohol in December but backed down after the move was criticized by the tourism sector and by liberals. He is pushing tourism in an attempt to help the country's economy recover from months of inactivity.Tourism had accounted for some 10 percent of the country's economy before the January 2011 uprising ousted former President Hosni Mubarak and saw travelers look elsewhere as violence and political turmoil took hold of Egypt. “It will not be changed. Nothing will affect beach tourism. We are building on, increasing even, the capacities and the services rendered for our clients coming to our beaches," he told Reuters news agency. The Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) told Bikyamasr.com in a statement in June that they “hope to build a new united Egypt" and have “no plans to affect the current situation" when it comes to tourism. Still, worries abound, among both Egyptians and foreigners, over what the future for Egypt will bring. Earlier this year, the FJP, after winning nearly 45 percent of the now possibly dissolved parliament, said that tourists would have the freedom to wear whatever they chose, including bikinis, and that they would have ban alcohol or other foodstuffs. “The party regrets the decline in tourism and other economic activities as one of the repercussions of the January 25 revolution," said Ahmed Suleiman, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the party, during a meeting organized by the Business Association and attended by representatives of the FJP and foreign tour operators, in January. He pointed out that the party would contribute to the redoubling of “the rates of tourism in the coming period," and that the situation of tourism and its present conditions “would remain the same as before the revolution and this sector will not be subjected to any changes as long as the FJP is represented in the parliament." Suleiman stressed the need to reactivate beach tourism as it is one of the “most popular aspects of tourism in Egypt." He said the FJP is already speculating tourism numbers, “taking a number of measures including the establishment of a series of museums along the Nile Valley to boost the cultural tourism traffic." He pointed out that monuments and statues currently in stores will be taken out and displayed in the order of dynasties, in each governorate of origin, respectively. He explained that the party`s vision is to make good use of nature reserves, medical and therapeutic tourism and conferences. At the same meeting, Ahmed el-Imam, a member of the “tourism boosting committee" of the FJP said the government, without mentioning the military junta by name, “is one of the main reasons afflicting tourism internally, and while Egypt has about 33 percent of the monuments of the world, the state is incapable of utilizing them in an optimum way," saying that the party aims at bringing 25 million tourists annually in the upcoming years. BN
