CAIRO – Hours after the outbreak of the Egyptian revolution of January 25, many regional competitors rushed in to hijack long-standing and traditional lovers of Egypt. Six months after the revolution, these competitors are refusing to act morally and allow Egypt welcome back its lovers. Rather, they are regretting that Egypt is rising onto its feet again. For instance, tourist officials on the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, are allegedly expecting a decline in tourist activities in September and October – if Egypt has managed to overcome its post-Revolution woes and to activate its tourism activities in the corresponding period. Canary Islands competitors Due to its geographical proximity to Europe, the Canary Islands are supposed to be competing against the Red Sea in this respect. That is why tourist industrialists and investors on the Canary Islands are closely scrutinising the Red Sea coasts in Egypt to closely follow the developments of the situation. Additionally to their studies, they are sending delegations to stay in Egypt and have a good firsthand experience, which could benefit their promotional campaigns for their tourist activities at home. I had the opportunity to visit the Canary Islands some years ago and came across many people belonging to tourism industry there. To my surprise, I discovered that my guests knew much more about Hurghada in Egypt than I did. I also discovered that these people were visiting Sharm El-Sheikh regularly to update their information about Egypt's attempts to overcome its crisis. It is known that millions of British and French citizens are owners of housing units on the Canary Islands to spend most their time during the year there. These owners include retired people, who invest their pension to fulfil their dream of living quietly and peacefully. Needless to say that Egypt is lagging behind such creative and innovative ideas. The tourist officials on the Canary Islands are worried that the strong revival of tourism in Egypt in September and October this year would have a very adverse impact on tourism industry in the Canary Island. Turkish success Hijackers of Egypt's admirers, the Arabs in particular, include Turkey, but Cyprus and the Far East have also succeeded in competing successfully with Turkey in the battle over Egypt. There is continuing uncertainty whether Egypt's tourism will be revived in autumn and winter: inconsistent policies, regular mass demonstrations and the state of lawlessness across the nation have dashed our hopes in this respect. It is all the more unfortunate that like other foreign tourists, Arabs have shifted their destinations from Egypt to Turkey, Cyprus, the Far East and other places. Hope hinging on Ramadan The fasting month of Ramadan is rekindling the dim hope of Egypt's tourism, Egypt in Ramadan being distinguished by cultural, religious and popular festivities, which are rarely found in any other Arab or Muslim countries. Therefore, tourist officials and hotel owners have hopes that the calendar of Ramadan's events in Egypt will help persuade Arab families to change their minds and resume their long-standing tradition of marking the holy month in Egypt. We have to exploit all our cultural, religious and folk potentials to turn Ramadan into a thriving tourist season. We should not give in to challenges lying ahead. On this occasion, I heaved a deep sigh of relief when Egypt celebrated the second year of the Fawanis (lanterns) Ramadan festival this year. I was unable to take part in the press conference last Thursday in this regard because I was on an official visit to the Northern Coast. The press conference highlighted consistent collaboration with different ministries, and government agencies and departments, all of which are enthusiastic to make this big event a great success. It is sufficient to say that the conference was led by the Minister of Tourism Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, the Minister of Culture Emad-Eddin Abu-Ghazi, the Governor of Cairo Abdel-Qawi Khalifa, and the Governor of Giza Ali Abdel-Rahman. The Egyptian Tourism Authority was represented by its chairman Amr el-Ezabi. Highlights of Egypt During the press conference, the Minister of Tourism thanked senior officials for their enthusiasm in sponsoring the Fawanis Ramadan Festival this year. Abdel-Nour described the festival as a strong message broadcast by post-Revolution Egypt that the Egyptian people were fully respecting their time-honoured traditions and principles and that, under no circumstances, would the Egyptians allow a compromise in this respect. Addressing the demonstrators, who were then camping out in Al Tahrir Square, Abdel-Nour emphasised that his ministry was keen to see them achieving aspirations. This year's Fawanis Ramadan Festival is also unfolding in Turkey and Dubai. Book fair in Ramadan The Minister of Culture announced during the press conference that the work was underway to reopen the Cairo International Book Fair in Ramadan this year. Abu-Ghazi disclosed that the annual book fair, which was scheduled to take place in January this year and was suspended because of the revolutionary events then taking place, would be held in Giza. The Minister of Culture also disclosed that a wide variety of cultural and popular events and intellectual activities would take place in the Cairo Opera House complex and the Al-Moez li-Din Allah Street area in Fatimid Cairo. Abu-Ghazi also stressed that cultural, artistic and entertainment activities being staged in Tahrir Square should be exploited to enrich the Fawanis Ramadan Festival. Distinguishing features The Egyptian Tourist Authority chairman explained that such time-honoured religious and cultural entertainments and events were characteristic of Egypt's Ramadan. "These features prompted us to launch this year's festival under the banner Egypt's Spirit is in Ramadan," Elezabi said. He stated that the Fawanis Ramadan Festival was first announced last year in Dubai during its travel fair. He emphasised that the festival event increased tourist activities in Egypt last year by 17 per cent in general and by 25 per cent in Ramadan in particular. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for this year's Fanawis Ramadan Festival took place on Saturday in the Gezira Park. The ceremony included Sufi, folk and artistic performances. The Egyptian ministry of tourism successfully managed to persuade the officials of the Dubai Mall to dedicate an exclusive pavilion to Egypt's festival and its activities. Elezabi commented that this year's post- Revolution Festival of Fawanis Ramadan demonstrated the genius of the Egyptian nation: demonstrators have the opportunity to divide their time between their mass protests and the interesting activities planned in the fasting month. Cleaning up the city The Governor of Cairo's governor said that to make the Fawanis Ramadan Festival even more successful, the capital's municipality officials had launched a cleaning campaign to make the city, espe- cially its historical quarters, look more beautiful in Ramadan. The governor released a suggestion to pro- mote the Nile as a distinguished tourist destination in Cairo and Giza. Upgrading the Giza area For his part, the Governor of Giza said that they were preparing three tourist projects, which include the construction of a marina on the Nile in the Dahshur area to receive tourists wishing to tour the Pyramids' area. The governor also said that the area surrounding the Great Museum would be upgraded to include a five-star hotel offering 10,000 rooms. He added that the new projects would extend between the museum and the Pyramids area, and across the Giza-Fayoum road.
