By Atia Abawi and Charlene Gubash, NBC News
Tourists
have long flocked to Egypt to see the pyramids, take a trip up the
majestic Nile or relax on one of its many sun-kissed beaches.
But,
in a potentially damaging blow to its economy, Egypt has now been
ranked below countries such as Pakistan, Yemen and Chad for "safety and
security" in an influential report on tourism by the World Economic Forum.
It is perhaps little wonder that tourists are spooked — amid ongoing
political unrest, Molotov cocktails, gunfire and tear gas have become
almost commonplace in some areas.
Two years after the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, protesters still return to Cairo's Tahrir Square — where it all began — to demonstrate against the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and lament the country's failing economy.
Earlier this month, Bedouin gunmen kidnapped a British couple who
were on their way to the glittering beaches of Sharm El Sheikh. They
were quickly released, but Bedouins have taken other hostages and
also attacked police stations and blocked access to towns to show their
discontent with what they see as their poor treatment by Cairo.
Last
month, thugs attacked and entered the InterContinental hotel in Cairo,
forcing it to close down while it implemented heightened security
measures.
And there has been also been unrest over death sentences handed out to 21 soccer fans over a deadly riot at a stadium last year.
From terrorism to road accidents
The
World Economic Forum report, The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness
Index 2013, ranked Egypt overall in 85th place out of the 140 countries
considered by the group, down 10 from last year.
The safety and
security category looked at "the costliness of common crime and violence
as well as terrorism." It also considered the reliability of the police
and the number of road traffic accidents.
Egypt was in 140th and last place on this list behind Yemen at 139,
Chad at 138, and Pakistan at 137. The U.S. State Department has current travel warnings for the latter three countries, but not Egypt.
According to the Egypt's state information service, tourism makes up 11.3 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product.
In
2010, before the revolution, Egypt welcomed an estimated 14.7 million
tourists who brought $12.5 billion in revenue. Last year, it had 11
million tourists bringing $10.5 billion in revenue.
Emile Asaad,
manager of an American Express travel agency in the ancient city of
Luxor, home to King Tut's tomb and the famous temples of Luxor and
Karnak, said that "the important thing is that when people need to walk
in the street they want to feel safe."
"We have over 400 boats on
the Nile, there is still 20 to 25 percent occupancy on some of the most
popular boats, but others are just sitting and not operating," he said.
"We don't know how the future looks."
Adla Ragab, an economic
advisor to the Egypt's Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, said officials
were taken aback by the WEF report.
"When we first saw it, we were shocked. We held a lot of workshops to discuss this issue," she said by phone.
Ragab
said media reports had led people to believe that Egypt is more
dangerous than it actually is. She added that during a trip to the U.S.,
hotel staff had insisted on escorting her to a nearby restaurant after
dark, but that didn't mean she would advise people not to go to the U.S.
A selection of foreign tourists in Egypt appeared to support Ragab's view.
"I
can say to anybody, go to Egypt! It's a nice country. There [are] so
many things to see. It's very good weather, it's warm in the winter and
there's no problem," Dirk Posner, of Leipzig, Germany, said while
visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Yuan Ye, from Shandong
province, China, recommended that tourists use a trusted travel agency
and explore the country with a group because of difficulties with
facilities and services.
"I think generally it is safe for
tourists, but you should be careful, very careful from the peddlers who
try to sell you something — force to sell you something," he said with a
smile.
Jaffar and Francoise Bentchikou, from Paris, France, also encouraged foreigners to visit.
"We
saw that the problems were limited to some places so we just try to
avoid them," Jaffar said. "[Tourists] have to be conscious of the
situation, but for the time being we have seen nothing against tourists
especially."
"We feel very bad about the revenue lost for tourism
for the Egyptians," Francoise added. "That is something that makes us
very unhappy."
But travel companies said many people were staying away.
Bob
Atkinson, a travel expert with the U.K.-based price-comparison website
TravelSupermarket.com, said unrest in Egypt had "seriously affected the
tourist trade."
"The Arab uprisings very much put the Egypt market into a tailspin," he said.
Flavia
Jaber, owner of Toronto-based company Road to Travel, which includes
Road to Egypt, said that "our business to Egypt is dead in the water at
the moment."
"People are not going to Egypt right now, at least not from North America," she said.
"Definitely
there are things going on in Egypt that are very unsavory and when you
are considering going on a holiday, you want to go and relax, have a
good time," she added. "You might say let's not go to Egypt this year,
let's wait until things settle down."
However, there was at least
one thing in Egypt's favor in the WEF report — the price. The country
was ranked the fourth cheapest tourist destination in the world "with
competitive hotel prices, low fuel costs and low prices more
generally."
