Sallyanne Atkinson - The Australian - January 28, 2012
The events of last year, which began with the ousting of president
Hosni Mubarak and ended with violent demonstrations in the centre of
Cairo, have sparked a disastrous decline in tourism.
Televised
images of fighting and shooting sent visitor numbers plummeting. Local
tourism folk say this season's figures are about 15 per cent of what's
usual for the peak December-January season.
This all seems very unfair given my small touring group over Christmas and new year encountered nothing that could be considered even remotely dangerous or threatening.
It's obviously devastating for the 15 million Egyptians dependent on tourism, the country's third-biggest income earner after the Suez Canal and oil and gas. The official figure is two million directly involved in the industry, but that doesn't account for people such as printers, shopkeepers and food producers.
Egypt's political uprisings, unlike those in other countries
perhaps, have never been directed against foreigners or foreign powers
and have been very much localised and predictable.
In Cairo, it's Tahrir Square and a few surrounding streets. The protests were well signalled and well promoted through social media networks.
So there we were on Christmas Day, driving through the Square to visit the world-famous Egyptian Museum adjacent to it.
Beside the museum is the shell of the high-rise building that was home to the then-ruling National Democratic Party, burnt down in the January demonstrations and certainly a stark memorial.
Walking the streets of Alexandria over two days by myself, I didn't see another Western face. And I did feel totally safe, safer than among the bag-snatchers of, say, Rome, or the volatile Greeks in Athens.
There are usually four or five big ocean liners in the harbour here at this time of year, according to my guide at the Alexandria Museum. Now there are none. The last ship left on December 17. And many of the tour companies have taken Egypt off their lists for this year. It's a shame, because it's a marvellous and important place to visit and a great place for a holiday. The wonders of the pyramids and the beauties of the tombs are unique, as is the chance to marvel at a civilisation that goes back 5000 years.
The absence of other tourists is, of course, bliss for those who do go. Around the great monuments of Luxor and Aswan, far from Cairo, there are few crowds and no queues. Sailing up the Nile, you can sit alone on the top deck of the steamer to watch the country go by and the workers in the fields. There are 400 steamers that ply the Nile; at present only 60 are in operation.
The Australian government has issued travel warnings on Egypt which is what responsible governments do. [Note: most other countries, including the USA, have a travel alert in place. It says to stay away from large groups.]
Responsible and sensible travellers take care to stay away from potential trouble. And take time to try to understand the politics and sensibilities of the local people.
Egypt is very much a developing country. Donkeys and carts provide transport in the cities as well as the villages, and farming methods are as they were centuries ago. Cairo and Alexandria, less than a century ago sophisticated and cosmopolitan, are Third World cities.
Mubarak and his two sons and a group of his colleagues in government are now on trial in Cairo. The charges include murder and widespread corruption.
The prosecutor, Attorney-General Mustafa Sulaiman, pointing out that the trial was a landmark event in Egyptian and Arab history because it was the first time a ruler had been put on trial, said in court the former president pursued a bad economic policy that resulted in higher prices, impoverished the people and widened the gap between the poor and the rich.
The caretaker government, headed by the army, has announced it will bring forward upper house, or Shura Council, elections from March to next month. The new parliament, the People's Assembly, started meeting this week and will begin to prepare a new constitution. Presidential elections will be held before the end of June, with nominations opening in April. There is already a large line-up of candidates.
The last of the three rounds of People's Assembly elections, in the third grouping of the country's 27 provinces, gave the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party 46 per cent of the seats and it wll form a coalition government with other Islamist parties.
Young people are understandably impatient, and given the country's recent history understandably cynical.
Young political activists are frustrated and surprised at their lack of success in the elections.
But as one local columnist pointed out, the young activists haven't understood the political process well enough to get organised and must turn their attention to this as well as demonstrations.
Its important they do so for the sake of the tourism industry. And there's another, global reason why tourism in Egypt is important. It brings together people from all over the world to stand in awe of this ancient civilisation, from Europe, Asia and Africa, though this year hardly any from the US.
In Egypt, there's evidence of optimism. The local sharemarket opened the new year with a couple of percentage points rise.
The head of the Coptic Christian Church invited Islamist leaders to celebrate orthodox Christmas with him on January 7, and they accepted.
And on New Year's Eve, Tahrir Square was filled with people. But, as they waved their Egyptian flags, they were singing and dancing. And these people are just what the country needs.
This all seems very unfair given my small touring group over Christmas and new year encountered nothing that could be considered even remotely dangerous or threatening.
It's obviously devastating for the 15 million Egyptians dependent on tourism, the country's third-biggest income earner after the Suez Canal and oil and gas. The official figure is two million directly involved in the industry, but that doesn't account for people such as printers, shopkeepers and food producers.
In Cairo, it's Tahrir Square and a few surrounding streets. The protests were well signalled and well promoted through social media networks.
So there we were on Christmas Day, driving through the Square to visit the world-famous Egyptian Museum adjacent to it.
Beside the museum is the shell of the high-rise building that was home to the then-ruling National Democratic Party, burnt down in the January demonstrations and certainly a stark memorial.
Walking the streets of Alexandria over two days by myself, I didn't see another Western face. And I did feel totally safe, safer than among the bag-snatchers of, say, Rome, or the volatile Greeks in Athens.
There are usually four or five big ocean liners in the harbour here at this time of year, according to my guide at the Alexandria Museum. Now there are none. The last ship left on December 17. And many of the tour companies have taken Egypt off their lists for this year. It's a shame, because it's a marvellous and important place to visit and a great place for a holiday. The wonders of the pyramids and the beauties of the tombs are unique, as is the chance to marvel at a civilisation that goes back 5000 years.
The absence of other tourists is, of course, bliss for those who do go. Around the great monuments of Luxor and Aswan, far from Cairo, there are few crowds and no queues. Sailing up the Nile, you can sit alone on the top deck of the steamer to watch the country go by and the workers in the fields. There are 400 steamers that ply the Nile; at present only 60 are in operation.
The Australian government has issued travel warnings on Egypt which is what responsible governments do. [Note: most other countries, including the USA, have a travel alert in place. It says to stay away from large groups.]
Responsible and sensible travellers take care to stay away from potential trouble. And take time to try to understand the politics and sensibilities of the local people.
Egypt is very much a developing country. Donkeys and carts provide transport in the cities as well as the villages, and farming methods are as they were centuries ago. Cairo and Alexandria, less than a century ago sophisticated and cosmopolitan, are Third World cities.
Mubarak and his two sons and a group of his colleagues in government are now on trial in Cairo. The charges include murder and widespread corruption.
The prosecutor, Attorney-General Mustafa Sulaiman, pointing out that the trial was a landmark event in Egyptian and Arab history because it was the first time a ruler had been put on trial, said in court the former president pursued a bad economic policy that resulted in higher prices, impoverished the people and widened the gap between the poor and the rich.
The caretaker government, headed by the army, has announced it will bring forward upper house, or Shura Council, elections from March to next month. The new parliament, the People's Assembly, started meeting this week and will begin to prepare a new constitution. Presidential elections will be held before the end of June, with nominations opening in April. There is already a large line-up of candidates.
The last of the three rounds of People's Assembly elections, in the third grouping of the country's 27 provinces, gave the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party 46 per cent of the seats and it wll form a coalition government with other Islamist parties.
Young people are understandably impatient, and given the country's recent history understandably cynical.
Young political activists are frustrated and surprised at their lack of success in the elections.
But as one local columnist pointed out, the young activists haven't understood the political process well enough to get organised and must turn their attention to this as well as demonstrations.
Its important they do so for the sake of the tourism industry. And there's another, global reason why tourism in Egypt is important. It brings together people from all over the world to stand in awe of this ancient civilisation, from Europe, Asia and Africa, though this year hardly any from the US.
In Egypt, there's evidence of optimism. The local sharemarket opened the new year with a couple of percentage points rise.
The head of the Coptic Christian Church invited Islamist leaders to celebrate orthodox Christmas with him on January 7, and they accepted.
And on New Year's Eve, Tahrir Square was filled with people. But, as they waved their Egyptian flags, they were singing and dancing. And these people are just what the country needs.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sailing-up-the-nile-with-a-small-group-and-very-few-tourists/story-e6frg6so-1226255686724
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