Tourism and Egypt

Tourism is now one of the main income generators for Egypt; bringing in revenue of nearly $11 billion in 2008 and securing 12 percent Egypt’s workforce. The government is now very concern of tourism industry in Egypt and have started to build and allow more organisations to come in and build new infrastructures. Other the years there are an increase in the numbers of hotel, resorts, shopping malls and theme parks surfacing in Egypt. These new infrastructure not only benefited the tourist and tourism sector it also benefited the locals. And with so much more jobs now offered then before more people will have better standards of living.

As the festivals in Egypt are also another tourist attraction, the government had increase security during these festivals making it safe for tourist and at the same time the locals. Cleanliness is also another main factor that will affect the tourist arrivals, therefore the cities and towns are kept rather clean so as not to turn tourist away.

Mentioned above are the benefits of tourism on Egypt; however there are also the damages that tourism has cause on the country. Egypt has many beautiful natural types of scenery and these sceneries are very often visited by tourist. Actions that may appear perfectly normal for a tourist can actually damage these natural habitats. Photographers often deal large damage to the coral reefs when they try to take pictures. They will often break the corals or rearrange them to get the “feel” they are looking for. Not only so when there is an high influx of tourist the land pollution level will increase and this have put many endangered animals at risk. Egypt is home to millions and millions of rare and endangered animals. Not only will the litter endanger their lives, some tourist even attempt to catch one of those animals as they have never seen them before not knowing that it will hurt them.

In my opinion, tourism can be allowed in Egypt. However, it should be well controlled. This can be done by coming up with a regulation saying that all tourists must be accompanied by a licensed local to bring them around Egypt, even if they are here on a backpack trip. By having this regulations it will ensure that nothing that will do harm to the heritage sites, floral and fauna, natural environment and animals will be done. This might cause a decrease of tourist visits but only through controlled tourism will tourism be sustainable.  

Tourism Commodifying Cultures and Traditions

Now the big question; is tourism the culprit of commodifying cultures and traditions? In the case of Egypt, I will strongly agree.

Tourist visit Egypt for their pyramids, temples and such. They also visit Egypt to experience their culture. At the start, natives do not have knowledge of the possibility of earning income from these tourists. However, as time goes by and more tourists came to Egypt; they realise that this is a very profitable gateway. Shops started building around heritage sites and they start to push up their prices as they know that tourists are able to come out with that sum of money. Kids and even some adults in their various cultural costumes are starting to charge tourists for photo-taking.

Those mentioned above are all the legal side of the story. As the demand for ancient artefacts by the tourist increase, the black markets are starting to bloom. They are not more tomb robbers as the artefacts stolen can often be sold at a high price to tourist. And when this happens, the culture and tradition will start to get diluted as the evidence of their culture and tradition are starting to be brought out of Egypt. Without these tangible cultures, the intangible cultures will soon cease to exist.  

However, tourism is not the only culprit behind the commodification of the cultures and traditions. The education of youth is also another culprit; the children at Egypt often follow their parents to work in their shops. Be it in the black market or shops around the heritage site. These make them believe that it is perfectly fine to do the same as their parents. However, if the right education was given to the youths in school or by their parents, commodification of the culture and tradition will go downhill for sure.

But, commodifying culture and traditions do have its benefits as well. More museums are built to showcase the natives’ cultures to the tourist by doing so the locals can also be educated on other natives’ cultures making them more knowledgeable. And to ensure that the tourist goes to all the heritage sites and spend money, transportations also improved and this not only serve the tourist it serves the locals as well.

In conclusion, I agree that tourism is the culprit of commodifying culture and tradition. This can be seen when Egyptians start to set up shops around heritage sites and charging tourist for photo-taking with them in their costumes. In addition, the black market grew due to tourism as well. But, I have also mention that tourism was not the only culprit behind the commodification of cultures, the other culprit I identified was the education system for the young ones. If from young they were taught the right way I believe that their culture will not be commodified to a harmful extend. Commodifying do also have its benefits like having more museums that will benefits locals as well, and having better transportation for tourist which also again benefited the locals. I have to stress that commodification is not a bad thing if it is done under control. However, if there are no control, cultures can get over commodified.   

Disneyization

Disneyization is defined by Alan Bryman in his article as “a process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks dominate more and more sectors of society. It is presented as comprising four aspects: theming, dedifferentiation of consumption, merchandising and emotional labour.” Dineyization of society also argues that there is an increase in display of Disney theme park’s characteristics in the contemporary world.

As mention the four aspects are:

Theming

Theming is where by a place has a particular theme attached to it. This is one of the major aspects in Disneyland. Not only can theming be applied to theme parks, it can also be applied to restaurants, hotels, resorts and any attractions. Theming has recently become very well-received and populate in the society. Many businesses have started to venture into this field of thought.

Dedifferentiation of Consumption

This simply means that now different institutional spheres become interlocked and increasingly difficult to distinguish. In the past retail shops and theme parks are two different business and shops. However, Walt Disney saw the potential in having retail shops, f&B stalls and other shops in his theme park. From there many shops and restaurants are built into the theme park. However, due to that many writers are arguing that the main purpose of the theme park is increasingly moving toward the selling of various goods and foods.

Merchandising

Merchandising simply means promoting the goods on the form of bearing copyright images and logos. With the copyrights license no one else are legal to use or manufacture the same product as you. And hence allow you to have a better bargaining power.  

Emotional Labour

Emotional labour means that there is growing tendency for the frontline service work to be viewed as a performance. This also means that the mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work.  

The “Disney” in Egypt

There are a few amusement parks in Egypt now. And this particular one shown signs of disneyization, this park is called the Dream Park. I will use the four aspects of disneyization to explain it.

Theming

Dream Park has three distinct zones and each zone has their own themes. They are namely the “Movie Adventure Land”, “Techno Zone” and the “Ancient Area”. The Movie Adventure Land has decorations that theme and makes the place look like the movies and the rides are enough to make you feel the experience of an action movie. In addition, there is a 3D stimulator that simulates “Dino Island”. In Techno Zone everything is focus on speed. And lastly the Ancient Area, the area for children and is theme according to Egypt’s legend, myth and fairytales.

Dedifferentiation of Consumption

 In Dream Park there are a wide range of fast food and cafes, restaurants that exceeds 15 outlets; they also have more than 5 souvenir shops. In addition, the park also has two theatres to showcase local and international shows. There will also be a Dream Mall soon to be built, in this mall there will be a hyper store, as well as a vast array of stores.

Merchandising

Dream Park has successfully registered for copyright. Therefore the Dream Park logo is now also copyright and all promotions done by Dream Park will have their logo as their trademark.

Emotional Labour  

As Dream Park is a place for joy and fun, the frontline staffs are obliged to keep on a smiling face and joyful attitude at all times. However, this is rather hard as the mood of someone is a variable and uncontrollable factor.

With all four aspects of Disneyization in Dream Park I can say with confidence that it is consider as a sign of disneyization in Egypt. And I believe in the near future Egypt will experience more and more of these disneyfied business coming up. 

Present Egypt

After numerous different occupations and ruling the present Egypt is a country full of different cultures and traditions. You will be able to see the traditions and culture of the Pharaohs and at the same time some Christianities. However, the major group now in Egypt are the Muslims.

Religion and Beliefs

Islam

Islam is practised by the majority of Egyptians; Islam emanated from what is today Saudi Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad is seen as the last of god’s emissaries; Muhammad was the one that brought the last book, the Quran. As usual practice, the Muslims are to pray five times a day – at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening. They are obligated to pray no matter where they are even if they are drive in the middle of the desert. The exact time is listed each day in the local newspaper. As usual Friday is the Muslim holy day and hence many companies also close on Thursday, making the weekend Thursday and Friday. And of course there will be the holy month of Ramadan when all Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk, they are also only permitted to work six hours per day. Fasting will include no eating, drinking, cigarette smoking or gum chewing. However, expatriates are not required to do so; saying so they must not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public. Families and friends gather together every night during that month, to celebrate the breaking if the fast. And this celebration will continue all the way into the night. In general, during Ramadan things happen more slowly, many businesses will operate on an unusual timing.

Christians

Majority of the Christians in Egypt are Coptic Christians, and they worship god in Coptic churches. The Coptic Orthodox Church’s clergy is headed by the Pope of Alexandria, Pope Shenouda III. Like most other services, the Coptic services are held on Sundays. The service usually starts at 0600 hrs or 0630 hrs; the service will last for four to six hours depending on the church and the priest. There are four parts to the service; part one will be the preparation prayer. And this will last only 30 minutes, during this 30 minutes the altar boys go around with incenses while chanting. The second part will be the offering, during offering a prayer is said over the holy bread. This part will last for 20 to 30 minutes. The third part will be the mass preaching. Here will be when the priest read sections of the Old and New Testament, as well was giving a sermon. The fourth part will be the reconciliation prayer. This only lasts for about 10 minutes, this is when the priest gives the people Christ’s forgiveness and the people will also do so to each other.

Daily Lifestyle and Education

As Egypt is now more advance their daily lifestyle will not differ much from the rest. However, they are relatively particular about their prayers timing. As mention before they have five prayers a day and Muslims will have to pray no matter where they are at the timings.

There are more school coming up at Egypt now, in addition the freedom of education has improved over the years. It is no longer only male can study and the female place is always at home. Despite saying so the available schools and institution in Egypt are still lacking behind to demand.

The official language of Egypt is current Arabic; however this dialect varies across different regions and towns. Most educated Egyptians and shopkeepers have the knowledge of speaking English and French in addition to Arabic. There are also some that have the skill of speaking the Ancient Egypt tongue passed down from the Pharaoh era.

Food

As mention before that Islam is the main religion in the country, most of the food in Egypt are halah. The Muslim does not consume pork, alcohol and animals with fangs. In addition, the meats they consume have to go through the religious slaughtering process. However, they will not restrict the non-believers from consuming alcohol but it will be best not to consume pork and other animals with fangs in Egypt.

The ancient food of bread, vegetables and dried fish are still widely consumed today. But due to the various occupations, Egypt now enjoys food from many different origins. They have French food, Persian food, English food and of course the Arabic food.

Kofta and kebab are the two most popular dishes in Egypt. Kofta is ground meat peppered with spices, skewered and grilled. Kebab is skewered and flamed-grilled chunks of meat usually lamb.  

Leisure and Festival

In this modern Egypt, there are tons of leisure activities done by the people. To start off, Egyptians are passionate television viewers and now with the creation of satellite dishes and new land-based channels, the choice is becoming greater. The main TV event of the year will be the Fawazeer during the month of Ramadan. Of course since they are such a fan of television programmes they are also fans of movies. They are also very proud of having their country and culture being showcased in many different movies all around the world. 

As they always say “leopards will never change its spot”, the Egyptians have never given up their love for music and dance. They have produced many great singers like, Umm Kalthoum, as known as the Lady of the Arabic Song. There are now also many different leisure activities created to target the tourist and at the same time benefited the locals. Those activities are: bird watching, cycling, desert safaris, diving, horse riding, snorkelling and windsurfing.

There are many festival in Egypt throughout the year, most of them will be culture and religion based. The festivals are:

New Year’s Day (Wep-renpet)

This is the first celebration of the year. However, for ancient Egyptians this was not only the celebration of the first day of the year but also the time when rejuvenation and rebirth ideally took place.

Sham al-Naseem

This festival involves both the Muslims and Christians in Egypt. This is the day they welcome the first day of spring with a festive picnic; Sham al-Naseem also means “the smell of spring”. On the twenty-first of March, people will gather outdoor for picnics. And on that very day, kidney beans and dried fish are the food of the day. On this day the River Nile will be full of people boating around and enjoying their picnics. Everyone and anyone will greet each other kindly, saying “al Salamu Alaycum”, which means “peace be with you”.  

Moulid an-Nabi

This is when the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday is celebrated. This festival includes parades in the city streets, there will also be an extensive use of lightings and feasts will be also held. Drummers will roam the street creating the festive mood and making the whole street lively. Traditional foods like “Halawet el-Moulid” (a type of sweet), “Hummus” and “Aroussa al Moulid” (candy doll) will be made available. This particular event is held during the 3^rd month of the Islamic calendar each year, and it is a happy occasion celebrated with friends and family.

Ramadan

Ramadan is the most important festival in the Islamic calendar for the Muslims. It is celebrated during the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar; it is the time to honour that the Quran was revealed to the propjet Mohammed. Followers will fast for the entire month, and when they are fasting there will not be eating’ drinking or smoking allowed from sunrise to sunset. However, there are exceptions made for small children aged under the age of 10, pregnant and nursing women and lastly the elderly. In Egypt, working hours are also reduced during Ramadan to allow time for more prayer and reflection. The fast is broken each night with the meal referred to as “Iftar” this meal is often taken with friends and family with a festive mood. Celebration with traditional music and entertainment will happen throughout the night. Mosques and streets are lit up with beautiful lights each evening. The end of Ramadan is marked with a festival called “Eid-al-fitr”, this festival is celebrated with large feasts.

Egyptian Christmas

Christmas in Egypt is rather special as the celebration is held on the 7^th of January each year. Similar to the month of Ramadan the Christmas season marks a time of fasting and vegetarianism for the Coptic Christians. No meant or milk is taken from November 25^th to the night of January 6^th. Churches and homes are festooned with lights, Christmas trees can be seen everywhere in the week leading up to Christmas, and in Christmas eve, the 6^th of January, there will be celebration in churches and the bells of the churches will ring with joyous spirits and festive mood. The Pope will begin prayers at the big Cathedral in Cairo at 2300hrs and this service is also broadcasted on Egyptian television. The following day, the Christmas day, marks the end of fasting and picnics on the Nile are common places for celebrations. Children are given feast gift to buy toys or sweets of their liking.

These are the few major festival that happens in Egypt there are also many other festivals and they are as follows:

Pharaonic Wedding

This festival symbolise the ancient civilization of Egypt and is held in the month of November. This festival also has another belief that it is an auspicious day for marriages. Couples will visit the Karnak Temple and get married there.

Abu El Haggag Mpulid

This festival is dedicated to the patron saint of Luxor-Abu el Haggag. The high points of this Egyptian Festival are the horseracing, dancing, music and drum playing.

Wafaa Al Nil

This is one of the ancient festivals of Egypt and it is dedicated to the symbol of Egypt – the Nile River. It held in the month of September and the highlights of the festival are the painting competitions, sessions of poetry, seminars and music concerts.

Abu Simbel Festival

This festival is dedicated to the ancient temple of Egypt – the Abu Simbel temple. There will be ancient traditional rituals of Egypt and this festival is held on 22^nd February.

The Art Festival

This festival is held from 24^th – 31^st August and this is a weeklong festival. This festival is also known to be the greatest art festival of the Arab world.

Indigenous People

The deserts of Egypt have many different groups of people they are the nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary but formerly nomadic groups. The Sinai and the northern sections of the Eastern Desert are mostly recent immigrants from Arabia; these immigrants bear some physical resemblances to Arabian Bedouin. They are originally tent dwellers and nomadic herders, and now many have converted to semi-nomads or even totally sedentary. There are also a very small number of non-Arab tribal groups living there.  

Moving on to the southern section of the Eastern Desert is inhabited by the Beja; they bear a distinct resemblance to the pre-dynastic Egyptians. The Beja are divided into two tribes – the Ababdah and the Bisharin. A line between Qina and Al-Gardaqah is where the Abadah call home; there are also several groups of them settled along the Nile. On the other hand the Bisharin Live mainly in The Sudan, but there are also some dwelling in the Ilbah Mountain region, which is their traditional place of origin. Both of the tribes’ people are nomadic pastoralists.

There are groups of mixed Arab and Berber descent living in the Western Desert, outside the oases. They are also divided into two groups, the Saadi and the Murablin. The Saadi regard themselves as the descendents of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, the great Arab tribes that migrated to North Africa in the 11^th century. They are either semi-nomadic or totally sedentary. However, Amazigh are the original inhabitants of the oases of the Western Desert.

There are also a number of small foreign ethnic groups living all around Egypt. There was a rapid growth of these communities in the 19^th century and they are mainly Europeans. These foreign ethnic groups include Italians, British, French and Greeks...