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Speeches
27 May 03 - Ambassador's Speech at
Sustainable Tourism Egypt 2003
Conference
Speech by Ambassador David
Welch
Sustainable Tourism Egypt 2003
Conference
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Cairo
Conrad Hotel
As
prepared
Greetings to all of you. I
want to offer my sincerest thanks to our host, the
Minister of Tourism, Dr. Mamdouh El-Beltagui. Dr.
El-Beltagui’s record shows that he understands how
important sustainable tourism is in building the
economy of Egypt and improving the quality of life
for its citizens. We thank the Governor of the Red
Sea Governorate, General Saed Abou Reda for his
continuing support of the Wade El Jimal
protectorate. We’re delighted to see the Governor
of South Sinai Governorate, General Mostafa Afify,
supporting this gathering. And we appreciate the
leadership of Egypt’s Minister of the Environment,
Dr. Mamdouh Riad; Egypt’s Minister of Local
Development, General Mustapha Abdel Qader; and
Engineer Magdy El-Kobeicy, CEO of the Tourism
Development Authority which is co-hosting this
conference.
The paradox of tourism is that
beautiful places attract people. The people who
visit bring economic benefits to those who live
nearby. But if those beautiful places attract too
many people, without control, those places can
begin to lose their beauty. In the 21st century,
when the most remote places in the world are no
longer beyond reach, the challenge is great. And
in those communities that are hungry for economic
development, the temptation is strong -- to build
first and worry about conservation later. It
brings to mind the tale from Aesop’s fables of the
man and wife who were blessed with a goose that
laid a golden egg every day. Still they desired
more riches. In their impatience, they killed the
goose, and the gold stopped coming.
Any of
you who have been fortunate enough to visit
Egypt’s Red Sea Coast or the Sinai have seen
sights more valuable than gold. Just one visit
will convince you that Egypt possesses treasures
that had nothing to do with the Pharaohs. Visitors
fall in love with the Red Sea. They return. They
make major investments.
So it is no
surprise that tourism is one of the fastest
growing sectors of the economy in Egypt; one of
the most important sources of foreign currency;
and an important source of employment. Tourist
capacity in the Red Sea area has grown from 1,300
beds in 1982 to 70,000 beds in 2001, and Dr.
El-Beltagui has outlined a vision to develop the
Red Sea area to accommodate 400,000 beds in 2012.
As Egypt has realized the economic
windfall of tourism, the Government of Egypt has
also recognized the need to preserve those
resources for the future. The American people have
been pro-active participants in those efforts,
through the United States Agency for International
Development, including USAID’s Red Sea Sustainable
Tourism Initiative, which helped make this
conference possible. Where the U.S. has provided
advice, support and funding to match mutual
objectives in concert with Egyptian agencies, we
have met with quick success. USAID is active in
many relevant areas, but let me just note a few
examples that relate to Red Sea sustainable
tourism:
To reduce the use of resources at hotels on
the Red Sea, USAID experts encouraged the use of
environmental management Best Practices. This led
to a major decrease in the consumption of water
and energy, while improving waste-disposal
techniques. So far, 19 hotels have adopted
significant water conservation Best Practices and
cut their use of water by 50 percent. These hotels
deserve the positive publicity they are receiving
as a result. The seven hotels that adopted the
program’s full set of recommendations, including
solid-waste disposal, achieved an average annual
savings of approximately $200,000 each.
To protect the of coral reef that helps make
the Red Sea coast unique in the world, USAID and
its contractors installed some 617 mooring
buoys.
USAID has contributed equipment, training and
educational kits to the Red Sea Rangers, patrols
under the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
that play a vital role in protecting the sensitive
areas and raising environmental awareness.
The Red Sea Sustainable Tourism Initiative has
also provided assistance to the Tourism
Development Authority as it drafts an ecologically
sensitive land use plan for a large stretch of the
Red Sea Coast that represents one of the very last
pristine portions of the coast. This plan will be
presented shortly to Egypt’s Supreme Council of
Tourism, and we very much hope that it meets with
approval. The land use plan is offered to the
Egyptian government as a tool for planning how to
develop these precious 100 kilometers of coast. We
believe the land use plan will be a catalyst for
greater government coordination. It will be an
economic bulwark bringing clarity, transparency
and predictability to the future development
destiny of this coast. In that way it will prevent
the drop in land values that ensues when
development runs uncontrolled. And by protecting
rich natural and cultural assets, the plan will
help Egypt attract the market of “high-end
ecotourism.”
The future of Red Sea tourism
rests with decisions and actions that are taken
now. We have been very gratified by the
cooperation among our government partners, the
TDA, the EEAA and the Governorates, and we are
hopeful that the cooperation will continue to
broaden. We are hopeful about the partnerships
developing now between the public and private
sectors on issues related to the economically and
environmentally sustainable development of Red Sea
resources. We expect that these relationships will
continue to grow and prosper so that we can help
to improve the livelihood of all Egyptians by
creating the new investment and employment
opportunities which will make Egypt more active
and competitive in the global economy. I hope you
all have an interesting and fruitful conference.
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| This document was last
updated in Tuesday, November 18, 2003
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