Cultural Tourism in Egypt: An analysis

Introduction

Cultural tourism can be considered the most fascinating type of sightseeing as it is the witnessing of the real elements which have contributed in making a country the way it is in the present day. It gives the newcomers to a country an opportunity to have a profound insight of the true nexus of the nation which consists of its heritage, traditions, history and the relics and buildings which are the living reminders of that country’s forefathers and their deeds.

Experiencing a country’s heritage is a unique experience in itself and a tourist is bound to get a completely new and interesting perspective if their tour is planned in a way which includes the visiting of attractions and places which reflect culture and values of the inhabitants rather than the usual trips to the best shopping malls.

Apart from the entertainment factor, cultural tourism can serve as an extremely informative eye opener for a tourist as they encounter indigenous people with customs and lifestyles that were beyond their imagination before and come across strange and amazing architecture which seems impossible to be formed out of human hands. Cultural tourism makes one realize the grandeur and diversity of the world and develops a stronger appreciation of their own traditions and ethnicity and the fact that how important they are in order to define one’s true roots.

Moving on from the individual development factor of cultural tourism it is also very beneficial for the development of a country’s economy too. In the recent years it has become an increasingly popular sector in tourism industry throughout the world and countries are financially strengthened by it. It helps create more employment opportunities, promotion and advancement of the local industries, an increase in the overall income of the country and provides the resources to maintain and protect the traditional and historical treasures of the country (Ibrahim, 2011).

Cultural Tourism in Egypt

Egyptians are a very ancient and culturally rich civilization and demonstrates it proudly through the astounding architecture, relics and artifacts that are dotted all over the country. The country has gone through various eras of cultural evolution as it passed from one set of administrators to another starting from the rule of Pharaohs to Greco-Roman period in 332 B.C to the byzantine period and ultimately the Islamic conquest of Egypt in A.D 624.

This makes Egypt an ideal place for cultural tourism as it has no end of attractions and history for the tourists to enjoy and the traditions of its people are still a living breathing reality which is waiting to be unearthed and experienced. To classify the expansive amount of tourist attractions in Egypt it would be appropriate to narrow them down to two categories: tangible assets and intangible assets.

Classification of the Tourist Assets

Tangible Assets

Tangible assets are, as apparent from the term tangible, those assets which one can be “touched” or to put it more appropriately, physically exist. When speaking of the physical assets of Egypt’s tourist attractions that would include the historical buildings, ruins, museums, religious structures, ancient cities, opera houses and the typical traditional markets or bazaars that are still held in the exact same way that they have been since thousands of years in the past.

The mighty pyramids of Giza, Valley of the Kings, temples and mosques, the Sphinx and Abu Simbel are renowned symbols of Egypt’s history. The ancient cities including Alexandria and Thebes are bursting with sites like the underground library of Alexandria, temple of the sun god Amun Ra, sanctuaries of Karnak, Museum of Egyptian antiquities and much more. Millions of tourists are frequent visitors to these sites each year for both entertainment and academic purposes and this makes these ancient relics the most valuable asset of the tourism industry of the country.

Intangible Assets

These are the exact opposite of tangible assets. Though these assets do not have a physical form they still play an important role in influencing the cultural promotion of the country. The intangible assets of Egypt are its traditions, rituals, centuries old religious beliefs and the knowledge and skills of its people.

Egyptian traditions are a mixture of Arabian, Turkish and European countries as the forefathers of the civilization belonged or had travelled to different places around the world and brought back several beliefs and practices with them. But mainly the country is embedded in the rich and colorful culture of Middle East due to its geographical location (Jansen-Verbeke et al, 2010).

The native tongue is Arabic and only six percent of the population are followers of Christianity while the majority is of Muslims. It is interesting for tourists to explore the festivities and ceremonies, taste the traditional foods, admire the vibrant patterns that are common in clothing in the Arabic world and purchase the extremely beautiful and intricately designed handicrafts which are available in the local bazaars. These are all the intangible assets of Egypt’s tourism industry because the visitors are attracted by them and eager to observe and personally experience these activities or to buy these artifacts, which is profitable to the native public and on a larger scale is financially advantageous for the country.

Attractions

There is an abundance of historical places and culturally relevant places in Egypt and it is extremely difficult to just select a few for description here as each attraction has a more fascinating background than the last. However as it is necessary to limit the number of attractions that need to be mentioned, the chosen few which are being presented will be the most popular and worth experiencing and seeing when touring the country.

The pyramids of Giza: The awe inspiring conical resting places of the ancient kings are something which is inseparable from the concept of Egypt. It used to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World and was finished building around 2560 BC by the Pharaoh Khufu. Situated outside Cairo the three largest pyramids belong to the Pharaohs Menkaure, Khafu and Khafre the father, son and grandson. These are surrounded by smaller tombs of their female family members and the mastabas or trapezoid shaped tombs of other relatives. The impressive and terrifying figure of the Sphinx is also a part of this collection which poses as guard to the entrance of the pyramid of Khafre.

Temple of Luxor: The beautiful temple is erected close to the banks of the mighty River Nile and stands in the midst of modern architecture of the city of Luxor. The temple of Luxor was built in about 1400 BC when Rameses II and Amenhotep III ruled and was in dedication to the gods Khonsu and Amun Ra and the godess Mut.

During the period of its prime the temple was the location where the Opet or late summer festival was celebrated. An annual banquet was held in which there was a large procession of religious priests who brought in the ceremonial representation of the God Amun Ra on a boat across the Nile and the god was then supposed to be reunited each year with the goddess Mut.The temple is excessively enormous in size and has several huge monumental entrance ways that are approximately seventy yards long and are flanked by obelisks and humongous statues.

The mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

The Ibn Tulun is an expansive and beautiful structure. The mosque was built in 879 AD by Ahmed Ibn Tulun the founder of the Tulunid Empire of Egypt. The mosque was created out of mud bricks and occupies about 304,812 square feet of land. It comes third on this list of world’s largest mosques. It is also one of the most ancient mosques in Egypt which is still in its original shape after all the years.

An enclosure surrounds the mosque from three sides and there are also little courtyards that are called ziyadas which were created for the purpose of providing privacy and to separate the sacred worshipping space from the world outside. These are bordered by tall archways and broad pillars that are decorated by elaborately carved motifs. The mosque’s minaret is a thing of beauty itself and features a spiral staircase and has three floors each of which are of different shapes.

The library of Alexandria: The building of the library is itself not a marvel built by ancient Egypt architects as it is structure that was erected in modern times but that does not lower its importance as a historical tourist spot as it houses the most classical antique volumes which range back to the third century and were originally maintained and managed by the Ptolemy family.

It is considered the most expansive and complete library of its era and the collections consist of more than seventy thousand scrolls. The library has performed the role of being the sourceof information for the great philosophical thinkers and literary individuals who have helped shaping the whole world. The library of Alexandria is the precise spot where the circumference of planet earth was measured by Eratosthenes, the Julian Calendar was designed by the help of Julias Caesar and the theories of geometry were established by Euclid.

The original building of the library was destroyed during the Civil War that happened in the third century. The government had a new structure built in 2002 close to the site which was occupied by the old library building. The present day Bibliotheca Alexandria has eleven cascading floors and an Egyptian antiques museum is situated in its basement.

Evaluation of the Attractions

The pyramids of Giza are a legendary landmark of Egypt and emanate the true culture of the country and how it survived the tyrannical reign of the pharaohs who although were promoters of great architecture and aesthetic values but all at the expense of their subjects and the poverty stricken slave society. The pyramids are the one of the major tourist attractions of Egypt and draw millions of tourists each year. They are usually included in the main sightseeing points that are sure to be visited by tourists when travelling through Egypt (Ibrahim, 2011) .

Revenue gained from tourism (De Lapp, 2011)

However the thing that is disappointing to most tourists is that there are certain very strict rules upon visiting the pyramids. The large pyramids are completely closed for tours commonly and at times when they are open the visitor count is limited to only 150. The best way to buy a ticket without any hassle is to get it during early morning.

Also the pyramids can prove very difficult to climb once the visitors are inside. These problems need to be maintained and efficiently managed in order to raise even higher the amount of tourists that come to see the site.

Luxor as a city which has both modern and historical architectures is also magnet for both kinds of tourists, the ones who are more interested in visiting the present day malls and entertainment centers and the ones who are most interested in viewing the ancient side of the city and relishing in the glory of its past (De Lapp, 2011).

The mosque is also among the favorite of tourists who want to be culturally informed as it reflects the ancient history of the Islamic empire and the artistic minds of the ancient architects which built the mosque so innovatively and according to an organized and well managed plan.

The Library of Alexandria does not lose its charm either even if it is a relatively new building because underneath its roof is the hub of all the culture, belief and evolution of the Egyptian civilization in the form of its millions of dusty volumes and scrolls (De Lapp, 2011).

All these attractions and more are what make up the cultural tourism industry of Egypt. Currently cultural tourism represents almost 30 percent of the Egyptian GDP and nineteen percent of Egypt’s total revenue gained from foreign currency.

(De Lapp, 2011)

Conclusion

Cultural tourism is an important sector relating to the economical growth of Egypt and has an influential role in the increase of employment, heritage preservation and strengthening the financial background of the country.

Due to these factors the ministry of tourism has formed a plan to broaden the capacity of the local tourism industry and to become competitive on a global level in order to increase its shares in the global market and to attract even more tourists to Egyptian cultural heritage.

Egypt is already a country steeped with history and diversifying cultures and there will always be room and scope for newer innovations regarding tourism and tourist attraction. Its vast number of attractions can be improved and managed better in order to continue drawing more tourists each year.

References

DeLapp, K. M. (2011). Ancient Egypt as Europe’s’ Intimate Stranger’.At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries,77. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/delapppaper.pdf

Ibrahim, M. A. (2011). The determinants of international tourism demand for Egypt: panel data evidence.European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences,30, 50-58. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/220159244_The_Determinants_of_International_Tourism_Demand_for_Egypt/file/8d1c84f871201514f5.pdf

Ibrahim, Z. (2009). Tourism development and the environment on the Egyptian red sea coast https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/4268/Ibrahim_Zainub.pdf?sequence=1

Jansen-Verbeke, M., & McKercher, B. (2010). 15 The tourism destiny of World Heritage cultural sites.Edited by Douglas G. Pearce and Richard W. Butler, 190. http://macbride.org.uk/Goodfellow/archive/202027May.pdf#page=202