Egyptians to be fined for ‘pestering tourists’

Egypt’s parliament has approved a law which could see Egyptian vendors fined up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($565) for “pestering tourists”.

The legal article will allow the authorities to fine anyone found to be pestering tourists “with the intention of begging or promoting, offering or selling a good or service”. The fine, which could amount to $565, aims to deter vendors from offering services and selling souvenirs to tourists ahead of the summer season in a bid to protect Egypt’s tourism industry.

The article is part of the Antiquities Protection Law which designates “all archaeological material, ancient art and artefacts of any kind that are discovered or found within the Republic of Egypt” as regulated cultural property and therefore property of the state.

Egypt’s Minister of Archaeology, Khaled Al-Anani, told Egypt Independent that “there is no deterrent so far for those who carry out such acts that badly affects tourism.” Al-Anani also expressed a wish to see the punishment intensified if the proposed fine does not prove a sufficient deterrent.

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Other MPs and officials also shared the minister’s view with former Minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, telling an Egyptian talk show that “a EGP10,000 fine is not enough, […] there should be both a fine and a prison sentence, because these people harm the income of the country”, according to the Guardian.

Yet Egyptians working near some of the country’s most popular tourist sites see the law as unfairly targeting everyday people trying to make a living, many of whom rely on the country’s tourism industry as their main source of income. According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, in 2016 travel and tourism directly supported 773,000 jobs in Egypt, representing 2.9 per cent of total employment. If this figure is extended to those jobs indirectly supported by the industry it rises to 1.76 million jobs, or 6.6 per cent of total employment.

The approval of the law comes amid news that the number of British tourists booking holidays to Egypt has increased by 89 per cent, according to a report by tour operator Thomas Cook.

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Tourist numbers to Egypt had previously reached record lows after the downing of a Russian passenger plane in 2015 which killed over 200 people. The plane was believed to have been brought down by a bomb planted by militants in the Sinai Province, a local Daesh affiliate. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office subsequently banned all direct flights from UK airports to Sharm El-Sheikh, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist resorts.

Yet figures released today by the Thomas Cook Holiday Report showed that the increase in the number of bookings means visitor numbers to the Red Sea are now close to where they were in 2015, prior to the crash. Other destinations proving popular this year are Turkey and Tunisia, both of which had suffered reduced tourism numbers following coups and terrorist incidents in recent years.