Egypt Back on the Map as Top Tourist Destination

Reporter: Mohamed El Kashef

Photographer: Omar Abozeid

Egypt’s tourism industry is picking up again as tens of thousands of tourists and visitors arrive in Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheik and other popular hotspots.

 

This is a welcome revival, tourism experts say, as the industry reeled in much of the past decade as it took several hits from regional and domestic instability produced by popular uprisings, terrorism, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Amr El Segeny, the owner of an Egyptian travel agency, sees optimism over the horizon in Egypt’s tourism picking up again after a dire decade. 

 

He believes that Egypt has a treasure trove of sites to visit. He says that pharaonic history is a boon for the country, as more than one-third of the world’s monuments are located in Egypt, particularly in Luxor which is also considered one of the top tourist attractions.

 

Egypt also benefits from religious tourism since it has impacted all three Abrahamaic faiths.

 

But its impressive location on the world map makes Egypt a great destination for leisure tourism as tourists arrive at all times of the year to enjoy the weather and the coastal beaches of Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, and El Gouna.

 

“The places that are usually most visited by tourists are Marsa Alam, El Gouna since it’s considered as an exotic tourist destination, and Siwa because of the salt lakes that attract people from all over the world,” El Segeny added.

 

With the Covid-19 pandemic nearly coming to an end and the country being seen as a stable destination, Egypt is quickly regaining its status as a prime tourist-attracting country, with 4.9 million tourists visiting Egypt in the first half of 2022, an 85.4 percent increase compared to the first half of 2021 according to Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). 

 

Over the last few months; the country has hosted big events gathering people from all over the world, such as COP27 recently, and the 2021 Handball World Cup.

 

AUC has also attracted its fair share of foreign students, who are discovering the country through the university and on their own.

 

Christopher Rein, an American student at AUC who has lived in Egypt since 2019, has had multiple experiences across different cities in Egypt.

 

“Most of my interactions with Egyptians are really positive, I’m able to learn about interesting cultures and histories, and the food is really nice especially in Cairo,” Rein said.

 

As a matter of fact, Rein’s infatuation with Egypt reaches his family through his stories and experiences in the country; he constantly encourages them to visit.   

 

“I regularly try to get my family and friends to come to Egypt, so far only my dad has come. Honestly there are a lot of challenging things here in Egypt such as the language. I always describe it as a great place, but not a beginner destination,” Rein added.

 

He mentioned the bad experiences he had to go through as an American in Egypt.

 

“My worst [experiences] always come when I’m in tourist areas, many Egyptians see me as a big bag of money. Sometimes I get afraid to visit tourist sites unless I’m with a large group of people just because of how much people harass me for money or try to scam me,” said Rein.

 

Nevertheless, he has already decided which city is his go-to city in Egypt.

 

“My favorite place to visit is Alexandria, especially during the winter. Almost nobody goes during the winter because they think the weather is difficult, but I grew up next to the Pacific Ocean so Alexandria’s winter storms feel like nothing to me. My best experiences are always when I’m able to have a longer term relationship with an Egyptian, they’ve proven to be nice and very helpful,” said Rein.

 

But challenges remain; the pandemic and the year-long Russia-Ukraine war have had adverse effects on the global economy and there are fears that regular visitors will stay home.

 

El Segeny acknowledges the financial burden currency devaluation, for example, has had on his line of work, and says that this is most pronounced in domestic tourism as hotel rates have shot up. He thinks more bold moves should be taken to deal with looming challnges.

 

“I think as a country we need to invest more in marketing campaigns for tourist destinations such as Sharm El Sheikh, Siwa, Marsa Alam and Hurghada and we need to emphasize on the safety, as many people were afraid to come to Egypt because of the terrorist attacks and such things,” El Segeny suggests.

 

El Segeny has policy ideas that may encourage tourists to feel safer in Egypt, seeing that it is one of the issues they face here. 

 

“I think a tourist protection agency would be very helpful to help protect tourists from harassment as we always hear about cases of harassment in touristic sites, also improvements in the technological sector should be taking place,” El Segeny said.