A greener Egypt
While the green targets for Sharm el Sheikh are set over a 10 year period, Zaazou estimates that the “first effects” of the initiative will be felt by tourists in the “next two to three years.”
He is already looking ahead to the next project and the challenges that will come with it. The plan to green Luxor - which has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of ancient monuments - will revolve around how to prevent further degradation of Egypt’s national treasures. Zaazou says the Ministry is willing to take strong action.
“The challenge is we have a lot of people coming to see these monuments and we need to regulate this - we have monuments or tombs that are affected by water vapour because of the numbers of people that are visiting at the same time.”
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Rather than cutting down on visitor numbers, Zaazou suggests the problem could be addressed in an “intelligent way” — for example by extending visitor hours and spreading the density of visitors; or even making exact replicas of the tombs and offering tourists a choice.
“People will have a choice either to pay top dollar and be among the very limited few that enters the real thing or pay less and see a replica of the tomb. But yes, some tombs will have to be closed down — the challenge is big,” he admits.
He adds that tourists of today have a growing concern in the environment, which must be met by the destination.
“We have discovered a seismic shift in the minds of travellers today — people are much more conscious about the environment and their carbon footprint. If you are repeat travellers to Egypt, you don’t want to come back and see it in a worse condition than the first time you saw it. You want to enjoy it in a pristine condition.
“Because of this shift, if we do not move in that direction we will be losing that competitive edge because other destinations down the road will be taking care of the environment — so it’s a matter of economical need in that respect.”
Investing in the future
It will be interesting to see the impact of the Green Sharm Initiative in 10 years time — it remains to be seen whether by 2020 cars will be banned in the city centre, hotels will run on solar power and Sharm will be a model of green living.
Zaazou admits there are major challenges ahead to pushing the plan forward — not least the famous Egyptian beaurocracy and opponents within the Egyptian government itself — especially among those who value the tourist dollar over the preservation of natural resources for the future.
“I have to be honest with you and say that’s the dilemma - we are introducing a new way of thinking and I wouldn’t say that the whole government is in agreement with that. There is a debate.
“The challenge is how to educate and train and create awareness within Egypt, and for the other parts of the government to help us chip in.
“Some people know it’s important, others say — ‘what do you mean by going green?’. A lot of people do not understand. So awareness and education for the society on the receiving end as well as on the reporting end is the first challenge.”
Indeed, the move towards ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘green’ travel signals a major shift in strategy and direction for Egypt, which has always had a reputation as something of a cheap and cheerful mass tourism destination. Zaazou agrees that the plan is to aim for more sophisticated, higher spending travellers for the destination.
“We have a good base of travellers coming into Egypt. But now we are looking into retaining that traveller and trying to attract the high-end, sophisticated traveller that is environmentally conscious — the eco-traveller that is looking for pristine environments and destinations that are taking care of their habitats.
Special campaigns and promotions to promote travel to Egypt as a ‘green destination’ will be rolled out in due course.
“I think there is a change in the mindset in Egypt and it’s moving towards the ideas of green and sustainability. I’m very passionate about it myself,” adds Zaazou.
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