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.