The
Islamic Party of Freedom and Justice (the FJP), whose candidate Mohammed Morsi
won the presidential election in Egypt, does not plan on introducing
any kind of restrictions for foreign tourists. Further more straight after the
elections, Mohammed Morsi left the ranks of the „Muslim Brothers“ association,
of which he was a part, and also the political wing „Brothers“ – The Party of
Freedom and Justice. Earlier on, the islamic contingent hinted at the
possibility of introducing new restictions in the tourisim sphere, for example
the prohibition of alcohol, and women walking around in revealing swim wear
outside the area of their hotels. How ever now, representatives from the same
party are saying that tourism will remain the leading part of the countries
economy.
More than that, Islamists are promising to
address the improvement of the countries tourism image. First and foremost, the
new authorities will attend to the issue of cleanliness on the streets of Cairo, and also, the
organization of traffic on the roads. “We want the tourists to be able to visit
all of the historical monuments without any problems, including the Pyramids of
Giza“, - Ahmed Al-Imam, the official representative of the tourisim committee
of the FJP told RIA “NEWS”. He
acknowledged the fact that the future of Egypt‘s tourism deirectly
depends on the political situation in the country. „The new government will
concentrate on the realisation of the new tourism project, as soon as the
country gains some political stability“, he added. At the same time he could
not give an answer to the question , if the current minister of tourisim
Christian Mounir Fakhri Abdennur will remain at his post, or not.
According to the words of Ahmed Al-Imam,
with in the frameworks of the large scale project which focusses on the
development of inbound tourism, in 2017 Egypt already plans to welcome
20-25 million tourists yearly. Before, the best year for Egypt’s tourist
sector was 2010 – the last year of ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s reign, when 14
million foreign tourists visited the Country of Pyramids. After the national
uprising in early 2011 and the subsequent resignation of Mubarak, the tour flow
decreased to just 9 million. For the realisation of its plans, Egypt’s
authorities want to double the number of hotel rooms with in four years, and
bring the figures up to 435 thousand.
Islamists are determined to widen the
spectre of tourism programs, in order to make a holiday in Egypt even more
attractive. This includes desert safaris, beach holidays, and resort tourism.
In particular, this project is already being realised with the resurrection of
cruises along the Nile from Cairo to Aswan, which is located
in the South of the country.
A
reminder that in 2011, nearly 1.5 million Russians visited Egypt. This
country has become the 3rd most popular holiday destination amongst Russian
tourists, after Turkey and China respectively.
