What needs to happen to get ecotourism booming? Despite Egypt’s rich natural diversity and world-famous protected areas, the local ecotourism industry is yet to take off. Enterprise spoke to a handful of key players in the industry, and while they may disagree on the reasons why Egyptian ecotourism’s potential hasn’t yet been realized, it looks like they all agree on one thing: The need for clear guidelines and safety measures that allow visitors to explore the country as freely as possible.

Eco and adventure tourism are growing global industries: The global adventure tourism market is forecast to reach USD 1.3 tn this year from USD 444 bn seven years ago while eco-tourism is expected to more than double to USD 374.2 bn between 2022 and 2028.

And it has the potential to be a lucrative source of income for Egypt: While there are no official statistics for local eco-tourism due the widespread informality in the sector, Environment Ministry statistics obtained by Enterprise show that the number of people visiting the country’s protected areas increased almost 75% to 21.6 mn between FY 2018-2019 and FY 2021-2022.

Egypt doesn’t have a unified set of rules for eco-tourism: Although many laws and ministerial decrees have been issued for the protection of the environment and the promotion of environmentally-friendly touristic activities, there is a lack of an overarching legislation that links tourism and environmental activities, industry figures tell us. Neither are there clear rules that identify the roles and responsibilities of different government agencies as well as other stakeholders, they say.

Much of the industry remains informal: Companies that provide adventure and camping experiences are yet to be considered legal entities due to opposition from industry figures keen to protect revenues from the lucrative haj and umrah pilgrimages, Ahmed Yehia, founder and CEO of Eco Group, tells Enterprise. “There is huge resistance from the Egyptian Tourism Federation because traditional travel companies receive a quota from Saudi Arabia for tickets to the haj and umrah … if the door opens for new companies the number of visas will be split among a bigger number of companies and they will lose money,” he says.

There are strict rules on camping: While camping is permitted in certain areas of some of the country’s 30 protected areas, the rules are tight for locals and even tighter for foreigners — a situation that industry figures say is preventing the sector from reaching its potential. Camping requires identity documents, security permits, a tour operator and a trip itinerary. “This is just against the concept of ecotourism,” says Hala Barakat, environmental and heritage consultant. “I wake up in the morning, I go explore a place, I may want to spend the night so I take out my sleeping bag and sleep for the night. This spontaneity won’t work if you have to follow a guide and a program.”

Security can often be tight: “Visitors who come to our ecovillage are escorted by tourist police who remain with them all the time, preventing them from even walking to the antiquity site which is less than 2km,” says Mervat Abdel Nasser, founder of New Hermopolis Eco Village in Minya. “They also face lots of restrictions in terms of where to go and for how long. They can’t even visit a facility like ours if they happened to hear about it after arriving in the area without prior planning. This issue is preventing lots of visitors from visiting middle Egypt, let alone camping in the desert,” she tells us.

This could be pushing tourists to look to other countries in the region: “Because of the camping and adventure travel restrictions, Saudi Arabia is becoming more attractive than Egypt, even though our nature and desert is much more diversified,” Aamen Abuellil, founder and CEO of adventure travel operator Ghamer, tells us.

Some argue that security is necessary to protect travelers and the environment: “Renowned photographers used to camp in Egypt for days to see the wildlife but because of overhunting for over a century, some of our great wild animals are now extinct,” says Mohammed Mabrouk, founder of Sahara Safaris and an expert on desert safaris and ecotourism. "Although the majority of travelers are responsible, there are some cases who went off grid and they disappeared or died. There has to be clear safety guidelines to protect travelers and the environment," he adds.

The good news: Eco-lodges are now legit. Last month, a decree by the Tourism Ministry formalized eco-lodges for the first time, allowing them to exist as official legal entities. This came after years of work from industry leaders like Yehia. “This is our success story after years of work,” he says, noting that there is work still to be done before eco-lodges are seen as legitimate eco-tourism destinations. “A lot of lodges open and they call themselves eco-lodges, but when tourists go they find ACs and minibars — basically a hotel room. This causes them to lose trust in the term and the place,” he tells us.

The law is one of several steps taken by the Environment Ministry to promote the industry: The ministry is working with international NGOs on initiatives such as Eco Egypt and Green Fins to make eco-tourism destinations more accessible to tourists, and has begun inviting investors to provide finance to develop the country’s protected areas.

The ministry is also working on unified regulations: “As the current legal framework was designed for mass tourism, we are working across with all different stakeholders to formalize the eco-tourism legal framework,” Hoda Elshawadfy, assistant to the minister of environment for ecotourism affairs, tells us. “We are aware that we need to do a lot of work to coordinate between tourism and environment ministries and relevant stakeholders, and train the different stakeholders on ecotourism,” she adds, calling it “the future of travel.”

Planning for Egyptian eco-tourism’s future: “Security needs to work with environment rangers of the ministry and ecotourism industry leaders to make a plan to enlarge Egypt’s protectorates,” Mabrouk says. “When there is a clear plan and a clear budget, a call needs to be made for investors to come from both inside and outside Egypt. That should take Egypt to the next level and we can compete with the market worldwide.”

** Next week: In the second part of this series, we look at the practices of locals and travelers, and how traditional travel companies and tour operators are responding to the eco-tourism trend.

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