Economic Aspects Of The Egypt Cultural Tourism - Case Study Example

 Economic Aspects Of The Egypt Cultural Tourism Introduction Thinking of the world’s oldest civilization the first name that comes to our mind is Egypt. History tells Egyptian civilization was built in 3100 B.C on the banks of river Nile. Egypt is considered as the oldest tourist spot for the Romans and the Greeks; they used to go there to spend their vacation on the beautiful banks of river Nile. They also enjoyed the cultural heritage of the country. Egypt is famous for its cultural monuments and Pyramids but that is not all, there is more fun added to it. Scuba diving in Red sea, hot and happening night spots, five star restaurants and luxurious hotels are also capable of attracting tourists. The landscape of Egypt provides visual treat to the tourists. Cultural tourism of Egypt represents Egypt as the land of variety and charisma and historically, it is believed to be the house of emperors. Egypt has a vast history of about five thousand years, which tells us about the rise and fall of many civilizations, era and religion. Since there were many dynasties who ruled the land of Egypt, one can find historic monuments and evidence all over the country. This makes Egypt a place of cultural heritage and tourist attraction. Evidences are found about the evolution of religions, their organizations which led to the formation of famous Egyptian civilization. These evidences attract historians from all part of world to visit Egypt. All these factors help in the development of cultural tourism in the country. Thus tourism acts as the main source of revenue generation in the country. So, it is very important from the government’s point of view to encourage and sustain the tourism growth in the country. The decline of tourism trend will directly affect the economy, so the government needs to be extremely careful with its structural reforms in tourism industry. The rapid growing population in Egypt, considered as the largest in Arabic zone, had burdened its resources through overtaxing and stressed the society because of its dependence on the Nile. Although the Egyptian government with its economic reforms and huge investments in building physical infrastructure and communications tried very hard, yet the demands of growing population in Egypt was not met. (AETBI, 2009) Economic Scenario and reforms in Egypt Economic development of Egypt largely depends on the development of cultural tourism as the revenue earned from tourism is very high in the country. Here we are going to analyze the effects of development of tourism on the economic development of Egypt. Starting from 1991, the Government of Egypt is planning a strategy to maintain a continuous stable growth. They have succeeded in implementing a set of Economic reforms that had changed Egyptian market into a prosperous emerging economy. This was done by setting some economic principles, insuring the market forces with maximum possibility to drive economic growth and employment in the country. Today Egypt is considered as one of the steadiest markets which had put an end to centralization and domination of public sectors on the economy. A turnaround in Egypt’s economy is noticed, although there was some financial crisis in 1997 and after 9/11 event, the Egyptian government with some necessary policy measure stabilized the economy. The annual GDP growth is 2-3% in 2001-03, owing to lack of economic progress and low foreign direct investments in the country since the middle of 90s. There were proposed reforms by Egyptian officials regarding privatization and traditional reforms, in early 2004, but the government wanted to follow these initiatives slowly and cautiously. The Egyptian government felt that there could be a public backlash over the outcome of these reforms like, inflation and other layoffs. There was monetary pressure in early 2003 on the overvalued Egyptian pound forcing the government to float its currency which dropped the currency value significantly and created consequent inflationary pressure. The official exchange rates were influenced by the Egyptian government to decrease the black marketing of hard currency. In September 2003, to cool the high temper of the common mass in Egypt, the government officials increased the subsidies on basic food items but this resulted in widening up of budget deficit without helping the same. The balance-of-payment position of Egypt in 2003 was not affected by the war in Iraq as the revenue generated from Suez Canal tourism provided the necessary support. (AETBI, 2009) Egypt is positioned in the north-east corner of the famous African continent, and is bisected by the most economically active and highly fertile, Valley of Nile. Egypt’s economy at the time of President Gamal Abdel Nasser was highly centralized but it opened up later by President Anwar El-Sadat and President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. To facilitate GDP growth, the economic reforms were uncompromisingly pursued by Cairo with the encouragement of foreign investment inflows. In 2005, tax rates were reduced along with energy subsidies and several enterprises were privatized by the Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. This resulted in the booming of stock market with the consistent growth of 7% in GDP every year. Despite these achievements, the standard of living of a common average Egyptian did not rise and the Egyptian government is still providing subsidies on basic necessary goods. These subsidies resulted in a budget deficit and a major drain on economy. Although the foreign direct investment has started growing in Egypt still the government had to pursue the hard line of economic reforms to sustain the event. (CIA, n.d) For the economic development of Egypt with the support of development in tourism we need to analyze the tourism structure of Egypt along with its pros and cons. Tourist’s attraction and potential tourists Thinking of Egypt the first things come to mind are ‘Pyramids’ and Pharaohs but truly there is lot more to explore in Egypt. It surprises all visitors when they discover that the legendary pyramids are the indicators of archeological wealth that is buried in Egypt. Archeological wealth in Egypt also comprises of remaining of ancient dynasties of Greeks, Romans and Christians. The Arab dynasty is also a part of archeological wealth in Egypt. The symbol of Egyptian tourism is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is located to the south of Cairo, just a few kilometers away and from the last houses its distance is more than a few hundred meters where there is a limestone cliff rising from the sandy desert plateau. This place was called ‘imentet’ by the ancient Egyptians. In Cairo, there are remains of medieval period that is unchanged since the foundation of Islam but the lines of magnificent burial chambers, situated in the site of ancient Thebes were considered the most attractive tourist destinations. In Aswan which is in southern Egypt, the geometrically imposed temples describing the power of supreme pharaohs and the archaic gods whom they worshipped are located. Exploration of river Nile is done best by felucca, an Egyptian sailing boat. In the western part of Egypt, the ocean of sand is stretched to the famous Sahara desert with very few oases, like green solitary islands in the vast desert. (Travel Egypt, 2009) There were remains of medieval building structures scattered all over the desert with bubbling springs and rock formations. In the depth of Red sea there lay magnificent coral bodies surrounded by mysterious aquatic underwater life. Though modern-day Egypt is considered as the most politically stable country in that part of the world, still there are few instances of disturbance. Thirty years of centralized rule with an inconsistent economy and rise in cost of living had caused some social unrest among the mass. Still the Egyptians are strong enough to battle against these issues and their hospitality towards the visitors is remarkable. The tourists who visit Egypt to explore the ancient hidden history are also benefited with their modern hospitality. (Introducing Egypt, 2009) Discussing about the tourists attraction of Egypt, question arises, ‘who are the potential tourists to explore the erotic world of Egypt?’ The answer is simple as Egypt provides means of enjoyment to everyone. The potential tourists who regularly visit Egypt are people from Archeological background, as the ancient civilization of Egypt has still got mysteries to unfold. Egypt is a beautiful country and so it also contains visual attractions other than historical formations which attract people who love to visit such places. The night life in Egypt had also generated craze among the young generation and so they can be considered potential tourists as well. Scuba divers from different parts of the world also visit Egypt in attraction of the Scuba diving in Red sea and having some water adventure. So, it is clearly seen that tourism in Egypt as visualized by the outer world, is not solely dependent on the formations of ancient Egyptian civilization. Problems Though the hospitality in Egypt towards the visitors is unquestionable still there are few instances which affected the tourism in Egypt. The most problematic issue among them is terrorism which had polluted the Egyptian soil as well. There are few instances of terrorist attack on tourists in Egypt which made some visitors unwilling to visit Egypt. The terrorist attacks are mainly planned to destroy permanently the development of tourism in Egypt by the Arabic Muslims, according to US sources. In September 2008, there was a severe terrorist attack on 11 European tourists and 8 local men, all were captured and made hostage by a terrorist group for about 10 days. This incident happened when the tourist party was touring the Egyptian desert. According to Egyptian officials, the rescue operation was fully successful and they freed all 19 people unharmed. Although the Tourism Minister Zoheir Garrana assured that this type of incident will never happen in future still the incident created a buzz among the tourist groups planning to visit Egypt. Most recently on February 22, 2009 there was another fatal attack of terrorism in the Egyptian capital Cairo. This time it was a French teenage girl who got killed by a terrorist bomb, in a crowded bazaar in Cairo. According to reports, the bomb also injured about 20 people in the surrounding. This incident disturbed the Egyptian government’s image of stability, as it questioned the security of foreign tourists in the country. These attacks are viewed as the outcome of public rage all over Arab, against Egypt for helping Israel. (Reuters, 2009) All the tourist agencies across the world are informing before hand about these incidents to the people willing to visit Egypt. These measures are taken to alert the tourists for ensuring their own safety but it is effecting the development of tourism in Egypt. There are some internal problems also that are affecting the development of tourism in Egypt. The marketing and diversification of tourism in Egypt is one of the major concerns. As the marine resort tourism is added to the historical heritages, Egypt had started to feel competition in tourism from other countries. Another, problem that is concerning the Egyptian tourism is the instability in number of visitors, it is not a steady flow and the decrease in number affects the revenue generated from tourism. The average length of stay of the visitors is also declining which points at the dissatisfaction of tourists in Egypt. (Rady, March 2002) Improvement and Promotion of tourism For the promotion and improvement of tourism in Egypt, at first the government should tighten the security of visitors in the country and the terrorist activities. There are some other sectors that need to be improved like, infrastructure, transportation and the hygiene standards in the hotels. The transportation, especially in case of airlines is a major issue of complaint among the foreign visitors. According to them the number of flights is limited both domestically and internationally along with limited seats. The service standard should be increased with the decrease in jam in airport terminals. The infrastructure should be developed to support the development of tourism in the country. The foreign visitors also complained about the hygiene standards in hotels and restaurants of Egypt. So, it is very important from Egyptian government’s point of view to improve the hygiene standard by issuing notification, if the tourism is needed to be developed. Privatization is taking place in this sector in order to increase tourism. International flights will serve even the areas of resorts. Along with this measure it will be the responsibility of the government now to look into security issues and encourage foreign investments and inflow of portfolios. (Recent Development in the Egyptian economy, n.d) To develop the tourism industry in the country publicity campaigns should be increased to attract more tourists from different parts of the world. To attract tourists who are not interested in the historical monuments of Egypt, the government should highlight the Marine Resort and Oasis in its publicity campaign. The safari in the vast Egyptian desert should also be encouraged to attract adventurous tourists to this part of the world. (Rady, March 2002) Now, one may discuss the promotional strategies of Egyptian tourism in present scenario. Though the archeological tourism in Egypt did not face any competition, still the government thinks it should be promoted moderately. The prediction is that in the near future the historical/ archeological tourism will experience a steady growth throughout. According to the Japanese travel agents, the Nile cruise should be included in the historical tours to increase the number of Japanese tourists in Egypt. The Nile Cruise was omitted from the historical tours after the Luxor incident in ’97. Promotion of Marine Resort tourism is very important as it is predicted by Travel agents from Italy and Germany that Tunisia can be a very close competitor to Egypt owing to its competitive prices. The other Mediterranean countries also have chances to compete with Egypt in this regard. (Rady, March 2002) The main actors to promote the tourism in Egypt are Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Tourism Development Authority (TDA) and Cairo International Conference Center (CICC). Conclusion Egypt which is considered as one of the most adventurous, cultural tourist attraction is slightly loosing its grip on the global tourism. This is only because of its lack of promotional strategies in the field of tourism. Development of Egypt’s tourism is highly based on the promotion and marketing of the historical as well as modern tourist sites. Successful implementation of the promotional strategies will help Egyptian Government to earn huge amount of revenues from the tourism sector. The marketing of tourist packages will grow awareness among the foreign tourists about the spots to visit in Egypt other than the Pyramids. The cultural heritage of Egypt is vast and it should be properly explored with supportive infrastructure, to optimize the revenues from tourism industry. The security issues of foreign tourists should be looked upon by the Egyptian officials to ensure the safety of visitors in the country. The regular terrorist activities must be put to an end to encourage the foreign visitors for having safe tour. The hygienic standard in Egyptian hotels and restaurants are also need to be reviewed to minimize the possibility of health hazards in the country. So, these are the factors that are needed to look upon to develop the cultural tourism in Egypt to develop its economy. References 1. AETBI (2009), Tour Egypt, Intercity Oz, Inc. Available at: http://touregypt.net/aboute.htm 2. Travel Egypt, (2009), Egypt.com Inc. Available at: http://www.egypt.com/en/index.php 3. Introducing Egypt, (2009), Lonely planet publication, Available at: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt 4. CIA- the world fact book (2009), Central Intelligence Agency publication, Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html 5. Recent Development in the Egyptian economy (n.d), Embassy Avenue, TWC Corp, Available at: http://www.embassy-avenue.jp/egypt/economy.pdf 6. Dr. Rady.A (March 19, 2002), Tourism and sustainable development in Egypt, Plan bleu publication, Available at: http://www.planbleu.org/publications/livreblanc_egy.pdf 7. Reuters (2009), Chronology of attacks on tourists targets in Egypt: a detailed history from 1992 to the present, Reuters Limited & U.S. Dive Travel Network, Available at: http://www.usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html Read More