Background:
This recording concerns the history of Red Sea tourism in Egypt, the preservance of the eco-system in relation to tourism and the drop in tourism following the Luxor massacre of 1997. A German-Egyptian couple outlines their hotel business’ rise at the Egyptian Red Sea coast. In a press conference, Governor of the Red Sea District Saʾad Abū Rīda addresses projects aimed at boosting Red Sea tourism, technologies used in these projects and measures to protect coral reefs.
Side A:
The interviewee speaks in German about the history of his Red Sea tourism business in Egypt. He returned from Germany to Egypt with his German wife in 1961. They heard about nice beaches at the Red Sea, especially ʿAīn al-Sukhna, hence they have been there regularly. At the time, there were neither hotels nor foreigners in ʿAīn al-Sukhna. In 1962, they started their first own hotel, mainly used by tourists of German travel agencies. In the following years, they bought more hotels but their plans were struck by the 1967 war. From 1979 on, they resumed and continuously expanded their hotel business. Later, they bought cheap land for building more hotels. In 1984, the first international plane landed in Hurghada, carrying journalists and travel agents who visited one of his new hotels. The number of tourists to ʿAīn al-Sukhna and Hurghada was rising steadily, and dropped again after the 1997 Luxor massacre. At the time of the interview, he expected a decupling of his current property in the absence of further attacks and was about to expand to Marsā ʿAlam. His strategy was to directly re-invest his profits. According to an old Egyptian law, he enjoyed 10 years of tax exemption. He has witnessed 20 ministers of tourism, but to him the very best ones were Mamdūḥ al-Biltājy [1993-2004] and Fūʾād Sulṭān (1984-1985). In the beginning, Hurghada was a fishing village and sweet water was brought from Suez by ship.
The official for Tourism Development Planning of the Red Sea Area, Dr. Samīr al-Sunbāṭy, and Governor of the Red Sea District Saʾad Abū Rīda attended at a press conference and talk about development perspectives as well as concrete plans for tourism at the Red Sea, among others a large pipeline which involves the technology of sewage water treatment.
Side B:
The governor continues to speak about projects in the tourism sector and governmental overseeing. At the same time, he seeks to preserve coral reefs. Together with Dr. al-Sunbāṭy, on a routine cruise, he found fishermen catching shell in the Red Sea. In front of the Prime Minister, he later explained how he wants to prevent such harmful actions. The governor stated he made all the hotel owners in the region get involved in fighting environment destruction. Tourism numbers had not yet returned to their peak (35% occupation of all Red Sea capabilities, 38% of Hurghada), but hotel owners are very active in trying to attract more tourists. He further talks about an oil disaster that happened 45 days before at a refinery and spilled 30,000 tons of oil into the Red Sea. With the help of three local petroleum ministry centres, the area was cleaned entirely within ten days and the oil returned to the refinery for re-use. Modern equipment including planes and helicopters made this possible. Another person at the press conferences gives more information on tourism development and addresses oil accidents again. The governor would like to meet frequent tourists. Most of the tourists are retired French or German and stay for a month or longer.
