Cultural Heritage: A Tourism Product of Egypt under Risk
Abstract
The heritage of Egypt is known for its richness and diversity; besides the numerous archaeological and historical sites (tangible heritage), different regions in the country are distinguished for their poetry, songs, dances, handicrafts and other forms of intangible heritage. This paper aims at giving an overview of Egyptian cultural heritage forms, then shedding the light on different threats that hinder their sustainability as tourism cultural resources. An exploratory approach was used in gathering information from literature. The significance of this research comes from the fact that few published works discussed the problems facing heritage in Egypt, particularly, intangible heritage. Clearly, human actions and climate change, globalization, political instability, improper tourism development and social change are all contributing to the erosion of an integral part of the Egyptian culture and social identity. General recommendations were given on ways to save this valuable heritage from loss; these mainly relate documentation, protecting cultural properties, raising awareness and behaviour modification.
References
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[2] Ahmad, O. The Egyptian Traditional Folklore: Depth, Variation and Richness (written in Arabic), 2016. Available at: https://sis.gov.eg/Story/121620?lang=ar
[3] Al-Ghalban, L. “Spotting Egyptian Food on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List”, 2020. Available at: http://www.kfs.edu.eg/staff_site/pdf/261120181257270.pdf
[4] Amer, M. 2016. Unrecognised Egyptian Intangible Heritage: Mats. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310478921_Unrecognised_Egyptian_Intangible_Heritage_Mats/link/582f445f08aef19cb815614c/download
[5] Amish, R. A., Al-Ahwal, G. A.-S. and Shrouk A. M. 2021. Innovative Alternatives for Inlay Technique in Support of Metal Work Craftsmen. International Design Journal 11(1): 115-122. Available at: https://idj.journals.ekb.eg/article_132934.html
[6] Boumedine, R. 2008. Sustainable development of Saharan tourism and heritage. In Fekri Hassan, Aloisia de Trafford, and Mohsen Youssef (Eds.), Cultural heritage and development in the Arab World. Bibliotheca Alexandrina. 205-228.
[7] Breasted, H. 1996. The History of Egypt from the Oldest Periods to Persian Conquest. Translated to Arabic by Hasan Kamal. Madbouli Bookshop.
[8] Dinero, S. 2002. Image is everything: the development of the Negev Bedouins as a tourist attraction. Nomadic People, 6(1): 69-94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/082279402782311022
[9] Duqail, H. 2018. The World Heritage in Egypt: Between Being Inclusion and Exclusion. The formal website of Egyptian Institute for Studies: https://eipss-eg.org
[10] El-Aref, N., El-Aref, N. and El-Aref, N. 2021. Egypt: Retrieving Smuggled Heritage: A collection of 5,000 artefacts that had been illegally smuggled out of the country has arrived safely back in Egypt from US. Available at: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/50/1201/402255/AlAhram-Weekly/Egypt/Egypt-Retrieving-smuggled-heritage.aspx
[11] El-Geressi, Y. 2019. Egypt Wants its Treasures Back: Demands for Repatriation of Plundered Artifacts are Becoming Hard to Ignore. Available at: https://eng.majalla.com/node/73996/egypt-wants-its-treasures-back
[12] El-Mekawy, A. et al. 2021. Effect of Air Pollution on the Deterioration of El-Manial Palace and Museum for Greater Conservation of Egyptian Cultural Heritage. Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, 64(1): 413 – 423. DOI:https://doi.org/10.21608/ejchem.2020.34881.2755
[13] Evans, K. and Fielding, L. 1998. Giza (Egypt) The use of GIS in Managing a World Heritage Site. In Myra Shackley (ED.), Visitor Management: Case Sudies from World Heritage Sites Butterworth Heinemann, 82-99.
[14] France, P. 1998. The Rape of Egypt: How the Europeans Stripped Egypt of its Heritage. Translated to Arabic by Mohammad Mostajeer. Sina Publishing House and Arab Diffusion Company.
[15] Janan, M. 2005. An Overview of the Dances of the Middle East: Relation to Current American Belly Dance, BAMEDA, November 6. Available at: http://mahsati-janan.com/ArticlesbyMJ/MahsatiJanan-DanceOverview.pdf
[16] Kuo, L. 2002. The Effectiveness of Environmental Interpretation at Resources-Sensitive Tourism Destination. International Journal of Tourism Research, 4: 87-101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.362
[17] Merhav, R. and Killebrew, A. 1998. Public Exposure: for Better and for Worse. Museum International (UNESCO Paris) 200, 50, no. 4, Blackwell Publishers.
[18] Mursi, A. 2008. Identification, Domains and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. In Fekri Hassan, Aloisia de Trafford, and Mohsen Youssef (Eds.). Cultural Heritage and Development in the Arab World. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 243-252.
[19] Mustafa, M. 2011. Potential of Sustaining Handicrafts as a Tourism Product in Jordan. International Journal of Business and Social Science 2(2): 145-152. Available at: http://www.ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol._2_No._2%3B_February_2011/17.pdf
[20] Nelson, S. 2011. Egypt's Antiquities Still at Risk: Experts Warn. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2011/03/22/134763378/egypts-antiquities-still-at-risk-experts-warn
[21] Oakes, L. and Gahlin, L. 2003. Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Reference to the Myths, Religions, Pyramids and Temples of the Land of the Pharaohs. Barnes and Nobles Books.
[22] Osman, K. 2018. Heritage Conservation Management in Egypt: a Review of the Current and Proposed Situation to Amend It. Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 9(4): 2907-2916. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2018.10.002
[23] Pedersen, 2002. Art. Managing Tourism at World Heritage Sites: a Practical Manual for World Heritage Site Managers. UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
[24] Reynolds, D. 2013. The Sirat Bani Hilal Digital Archive. Oral Tradition, 28(2): 271-278.
[25] Robinson, M. and Picard, D. 2006. Culture, Tourism and Development, the Division of Cultural Policies and Intercultural Dialogue. UNESCO Culture and Development Section.
[26] Ryan, J. 1992. Preserving Cultural Resources Destruction: Taking Action through Interpretation, US: United States Department of the Interior and National Park Service,
[27] Shackley, M. 1998. World Cultural Heritage Sites. In Myra Shackely (Ed.), Visitor Management: Case Studies from World Heritage Sites. Butterworth Heinemann, 1-9.
[28] Shackley, M. 2001. Managing sacred sites. Continuum.
[29] Sheppard, T. 2012. Traditional Storytelling in Asia and the Middle East. Available at: http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/,dir/traditions/asiamiddleeast.html
[30] Tassie, G., Watering, J. and el-Daly, O. 2015. “Egypt's Heritage in Times of Conflict and Crisis”. In Fekri Hassan, Geoffery Tassie, Lawrence Owens, Aloisia De Trafford, Joris van Wetering, O. El Daly (Eds.), The Management of Egypt’s Cultural Heritage/Vol. 2. London (UK): Golden House Publications, 14-47.
[31] Timothy, D. and Boyd, S. 2003. Heritage Tourism. Pearson Education.
[32] Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. “The World Heritage Sites of Egypt”, 2020. Available at: http://www.antiquities.gov.eg/DefaultAr/WorldHeritageSite/Pages/default.aspx
[33] Nature Conservancy. Ecotourism Development – A Manual for Conservation Planners and Managers Volume II: The Business of Ecotourism Management and Development. Arlington, 2004.
[34] Sci-Tech. “Egypt Unveils Ancient Funerary Temple South of Cairo”. Available at: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/egypt-unveils-ancient-funerary-temple-south-of-cairo-1.5270259, 2021
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[36] United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. “The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”, 2003. Available at: https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/15164-EN.pdf
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[38] United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. “Safeguarding Egyptian Traditional Festivals”, 2009. Available at: http://www.esft.info/Books/Festivals.pdf
[39] United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. “Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices”, 2016a. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/lists
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[44] United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. “Traditional Hand Puppetry (Egypt)”, 2020c. Available at: https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/traditional-hand-puppetry-01376
[45] United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Centre. “Properties Inscribed on the World Heritage List (Egypt)”, (1992-2020). Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/eg
[46] United Nations Environment Program. Change and Population Growth Threaten Egypt’s Ancient Treasures, 2018. Available at: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/how-climate-change-and-population-growth-threaten-egypts-ancient-treasures
[47] United States Central Command. “Timeline of Egyptian History and Culture”, 2020. Available at: https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-01enl.html
Published
2021-02-21
How to Cite
MUSTAFA, Mairna H..
Cultural Heritage: A Tourism Product of Egypt under Risk.
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 1, p. 243 - 257, feb. 2021.
ISSN 2068-7729.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/5899>. Date accessed: 26 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14505/jemt.v12.1(49).21.
Section
Article
Copyright© 2023 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2023. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.