Egypt Looking For Middle-Class Tourists

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27858, 5 January 1956, Page 11

Egypt Looking For Middle-Class Tourists

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

CAIRO. Republican Egypt is making a determined effort to attract more foreign tourists to the Nile Valley. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister (Colonel Nasser) the new Egypt which emerged from three years of revolution, social upheaval and gradual reorganisation of government particularly wants the mass, middle-class tourist traffic.

Before World War 11. and between the immediate post-war period and the abdication of King Farouk in 1952, Egypt’s tourist traffic was largely composed of wealthy Europeans who came to winter in the summery climate of Egypt. Now, in the wake of Italy, France. Britain, Spain and Switzerland, Egypt has realised that the big foreign revenue provider is the middleclass tourist who. since World War 11, has been flocking abroad in his millions on a brief, carefully-budgeted annual holiday. This tourist requires more bait than warmth in December. To lure him from the famous European and American playgrounds, the Egyptian Tourist Administration has launched an intensive publicity campaign. Posters and pamphlets are to be found in the offices of travel agencies and even on hoardings in Europe and America advertising the golden beaches of Alexandria, “the pearl of the Mediterranean,” and the Pyramids, Sphinx, and famous Cairo Museum, as well as night clubs with “Typical Arabian Nights settings, with low divans and cushions.” The minarets and picturesque Nile boats, the camels, desert sunsets, and grim relics of the Pharoahs at Luxor are also being widely publicised. Tourists, as an added attraction, are allowed reductions of 10 per cent, on hotel and meal bills. Cars which they hire from travel agencies are subjected to lighter taxes and are consequently cheaper. The tourist authorities have also sponsored plans to improve the lay-out of squares, roads and beaches in Alexandria and Cairo, and there is a project to build a 20.000-seat openair theatre near the Sphinx. Prices would be popular and the scenic backgrounds would rival those of Rome’s famous opera theatre in the gaunt ruins of the ancient Roman baths of Caracalla, and the huge Greek amphitheatre at Syraceuse, in Sicily. An Italian architect who has specialised in open-air theatres has been given the task of drawing up the blueprints for the Cairo theatre.

An attempt to build an open-air opera house at the foot of the Sphinx was made at the turn of the century, when a few stands and rows of were placed on a hillock overlooking a stage. An all-star cast gave a performance of Verdi’s “Aida”; but the makeshift theatre was a failure. The acoustics went wrong and the oeople in the stands heard nothing but the louder parts of the triumphal march. After a couple of performances, the stands, seats and stage were removed. The tourist who arrives either by luxury air flights or by cheap, overnight “tourist” flights will soon find a wide, modern avenue running from Cairo airport to the centre of the city. The capital itself is being given a nevz face. Towering, polished, ultramodern blocks of flats and offices are rising in the heart of the city and the visitor returning to Egypt after a five or six-year absence is impressed by a new cleanness in the streets and new politeness on the part of the population. Politeness and efficiency are two of the main supports of this campaign for more foreign tourists. In Egyptian consulates abroad, at airports and seaports, at the tourist

information offices, officials handle the tourist s passport, baggage, requests and complaints with speed, efficiency and politeness. The result of Egypt’s campaign for more tourists can be seen by the increasing number of visitors since 1952. From 75,000 in that year, the figure increased to 114,000 in 1954. This year, it will be even bifger, for in the first eight months of 195 a. with the height of the season, September to December, still to come it had already topped 89,000. Revenue from tourists increased from £10,000.000 Egyptian (approximately the same value as the sterling) in 1952 to £18,000.000 Egyptian in 1954. In the first, six months of 1955. receipts had already .reached £11,000,000 Egyptian.

The largest contingent of foreign tourists in 1954, about three-eighths of the total number, came from Egypt’s Arab neighbours. Two-eighths cam-? from Britain, France and Greece and the rest from Italy, Germany. Scandinavia, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Canada. Argentina, Brazil and even from as far away as Australia.

Even Egypt’s traditional dragomen reflect the Government’s drive for more tourists. They are more efficient nowadays, and less insistent when their services are unwelcome. Their present tactics are to pursue the tourist, repeating politely: “I am very good guide appointed by the Government. ‘We want to make good publicity for tourism. I very cheap.”