Towards new policies and strategies for management and conservation of cultural tourism in Egypt- Case Study: El-Fayoum City

Abstract

According to recent tourism field statistics it has been noticeable that the tourism industry worldwide has shifted from the promotion of international tourism to the promotion of domestic tourism, because of several reasons including Covid-19 in the last few months. Meanwhile, The Egyptian government has reiterated recently the major importance attached to the development of archaeological and historical sites with the aim of restoring their civilized and aesthetic status and promoting the tourism movement. According to CULTNAT recent studies of Egypt’s archaeological sites, it has been noticed that, despite Egypt is famous for its many natural and heritage sites, most of these sites suffer lack of service, neglection and some sites are not even documented on Egypt’s archeological map. Experience dictates that city marketing in terms of urban development, tourist destinations, cultural festivals, entertainment events, and promotion of investment, can play important roles in strategic planning of economic, urban, touristic, and cultural tourism development. This research studies the feasibility of developing cultural tourism in Egyptian El-Fayoum city through a set of management strategies and policies for the development and conservation of heritage sites. Also, it implies that when developing a group of unknown archeological sites together as a complex (The nine archeological sites on the tentative list of UNESCO in The Fayoum city), it might promote these sites to be registered on the UNESCO list, also it may brand El-Fayoum as a world heritage city locally and globally. The research finds that these eight sites including their urban surroundings lack major basics such as proper services, efficient mobility in addition to lack of development and maintenance plan. However, this shortage could be avoided by developing and upgrading these sites through integrating a set of heritage management strategies, in order to move these sites from the tentative list to the UNESCO world heritage site.