Fewer Israeli tourists in Sinai this year
Image via WikipediaAccording to the Israeli Airports Authority – the body responsible for the country’s international land crossings – only 66,000 Israelis passed through Taba in the first six months of this year. That is about half as many as in the same period of 2008. The number for all of 2004 was 400,000. Unless there is a significant spike in the second half of this year, tourist numbers from Israel will be at a 10-year low.
Israelis stopped coming after three bombs exploded at popular tourist sites, including the Hilton Hotel, in 2004, leaving 34 people dead. Although no one claimed responsibility for the attacks, three men said to belong to the Sinai group Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, were sentenced to death in 2006.
Because Israelis were said to be the target of the attacks, thousands fled the Sinai peninsula, many vowing never to return. Over the next two years several more blasts against tourists in Cairo and elsewhere in Sinai pushed the death toll to 140.
Despite a three-decade-old treaty between Israel and Egypt, there are still tensions between people, with many Egyptians not accepting normalised relations and protesting economic co-operation.
Though it has been three years since the last bombing in Sinai, one Israeli tourist was stabbed in a camp earlier this year. The Israeli Counter Terrorism Bureau continues to encourage nationals not to visit Egypt, warning of kidnappings in the region.
Israelis tend to visit Sinai during major Jewish holidays, but this year the Israeli government has again warned nationals not to travel to Egypt during popular holiday periods.
Between 60 and 70 per cent of Sinai’s revenue comes from tourism, the rest is made up by trade, agriculture and some craft work. This dependence on tourism makes the Sinai economy far less stable than that of the rest of Egypt. And because of its proximity to Gaza and Israel, where there is always the potential for conflict, the southern stretch of Sinai from Taba is much more volatile, said Dr Samir Makary of the American University in Cairo’s economics department.
On top of this, the Bedouin complain that their communities are overlooked by Cairo for investment projects, and that Egyptians reap greater benefit from the Sinai’s tourism industry than indigenous Bedouin residents as they own most of the big hotels.
The impact of Israeli visitors to Sinai is often overlooked as they account for only a small fraction of Egypt’s overall tourism revenue. But while the loss of a few hundred thousand holidaymakers will not be detrimental to Egypt’s tourism industry, the impact is being felt by the Bedouins who own most of the low-cost camps and taxi services.
Excerpted from an article by Rebecca Collard for The National
