The Negative Impacts of Tourism on Egyptian Culture Research Paper

The Negative Impacts of Tourism on Egyptian Culture - Research Paper Example There has been a substantial growth of the tourism sector in Egypt due to massive tourists visiting the country. Despite the numerous benefits brought about by the tourism sector, there are also several challenges. This paper will evaluate the impacts of tourism on Egyptian culture. It presents a brief introduction of the state of tourism in the country, discuses some benefits brought about by the sector, as well as the need to curtail tourism in Egypt, especially because of the negative impacts it is having on Egyptian culture. Introduction For the last two hundred years, tourism has been an important component in Egypt’s economy. In addition, tourism for the last generation has become an important part of the economy, which contributes about 45 percent of the country’s yearly foreign currency earnings. To improve the infrastructure to the required standards, there has been a very significant investment by both the public and by the private sectors in addition to all t he budgetary planning by the Egyptian government. This is because of the assumption that there is need for this infrastructure to hold an ever-growing number of tourists. As a result, there is an annual expenditure of millions of dollars to encourage and promote tourism especially in the neighboring Arab countries, which now represent a growing segment of the Egyptian tourist market (Icomos, 71). Because of the thriving roads, trade, and economy in general, there was massive expansion of the travel industry. For instance, there was a rise in the number of transit customers through Egypt from 275 in 1844 to 3,000 in 1847. To cater for the outstanding increase in the number of travelers between the years 1848 – 1879, the government began to issue regulations and organize the services given to the travelers, who spent about ?60-?80 during three months stay in Egypt. Tour guide (TG) was among the first services to emerge immediately because of the expansion of the travelling indu stry. The tour guide became the intermediary between the region and the visitors (El-Sharkawy, 78). The Egyptians have been able to carry out easy market promotion for a long time because of the Egypt famous historical heritage sites. However, when the marine resort tourism became the main tourism product in the 1990s there was change in conditions. Consequently, Egypt has to compete with its competitor countries in many features, for example service level and price, in the marine resort market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a suitable market promotion plan (Rady, 2). Impacts of Tourism in Egypt Tourism has an important effect to the society. Among the direct economic gains of tourism are augment of foreign exchange earnings, contribution to government revenues, income generation and generation of employment. In addition, tourism offers indirect effects on the economic sectors, for instance fisheries, agriculture, construction and handicraft manufacturing, which provide the goods and services for the tourism sector. Moreover, tourism offers other facilities and services that promote the economic and cultural development of the community in the region for example the improvement of transportation and other infrastructure (Rady, 26). Tourism in Egypt is peculiar on the types of travel and cross-cultural transactions including religious and intellectual pilgrimages, colonialism and imperialism, archaeology, anthropology, and more, which for centuries have been important components in building Egyptian national subjectivities and identities. The basis of the Western tourism is an imagination of an ancient Egypt scattered with the excavated monuments of a pharaonic past. On the other hand, the West’