Egypt: Stronger than fanaticism and crisis

EGYPT – 6.000 years of recorded history and considered one of the first evolved human civilizations the country still seems a mystic dream to travellers from all over the world.
Its unique ancient history has been attracting visitors since hundreds of years and is still a major economic resource for the country.
In the 70’s rapid urbanisation and increasing poverty led to an internal problem: Islamic fundamentalist groups were starting to target Western Culture and lifestyle.
It was a matter of time until the aggression would reach tourism and claim its first victims. In combination with the recent global crisis this could be lethal for Egyptian inbound-tourism but the country seems to resist amongst a few others as a major destination. 

During the 80’s the fundamentalist movement reached its peak all over Egypt: The battle affected the streets and hundreds of people lost their lives during riots and confrontations with the forces of order.
In 1992 the nightmare became reality: The first major attack on foreign tourists. A group of British visitors fell victims to a terrorist attack in which a woman lost her life.
In 1996 a much bigger attack took place and a group of 18 mostly Greek tourists died. Suddenly the countries internal problems were known over the whole world.
A year later the aggression should claim further victims: 58 tourists were killed in the city of Luxor.
Since then Egypt has seen numerous other attacks targeting mainly foreign travellers. Recent cases we can remember are the suicide bombings in Cairo and Sharm-El-Sheik which have nearly caused a hundred victims.
The last decade has seen a rapid increasing in terrorist prevention in the western world which has led to what we can call “terrorist phobia”, especially in Europe and the United States of America. Arabic countries in general have been observed with suspicion also from the touristic point of view and frequently other destinations were chosen.
The question arises how Egypt is facing this problem, which in connection to the Global Economic Crisis and the ongoing tensions with Israel could be forming a lethal cocktail for the countries inbound tourism.
Despite the unpleasant happenings in the last years Egyptian tourism had itself proven quite resilient.
In 2006 tourist numbers grew slightly and the government was showing optimistic regarding the reprisal after the Sharm-attacks. Security had been sharpened specially in tourist and resort areas.
After the impact of the crisis in 2009 the surprise should be even bigger: Egypt was topping most other holiday destinations with a growth of + 15% inbound-tourism from the previous year.
This result seems even more impressive if we put it next to a global market decline of – 11%.

How can we explain this boom even in times of a global crisis? The government has made big steps in terms of security but considering the 2009 bomb attack which caused another victim in Cairo the threat is still present: and it is internationally known.
The only reasonable explanation for this phenomenon might be the simplest one: Egypt has been a magical destination for thousands of years and also in times of crisis it does not seem to loose any of its flair. It might be subject to mass tourism until a certain point but as many other African countries it attracts visitors who precisely know what they are looking for: and in the case of Egypt it can’t be found anywhere else.
Tourists seem willing to accept the countries unstable political and financial situation in exchange for its cultural and natural beauty. After all the inconvenient situations in the last decades the land of the pharaoh can face even the gloomiest predictions with optimism.
And besides, which tourist’s memory book would be complete without a picture with the world famous Giza pyramid, a “place where you have to have been”…

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