{Replica} When Tourism Marketing Meets Reality: Bikini or Burqa? Impressions from Egypt

In Egypt, the final stage of the elections is under way. If the Islamists win, bikinis on the beaches may soon be a thing of the past - even if those responsible are hoping for the power of reason. There they are Problem the country's educational problems. A contradictory situation, which this picture from the holiday paradise El Gouna demonstrates perfectly: Bathing with a burqa is expressly forbidden!

Like in fairy tales?

El Gouna means "The Lagoon" in English and is located about 22 kilometers north of Hurghada directly on the Red Sea. A place like in Story from 1001 nights: 365 days of sun a year, the sea never below 20 degrees. There are also hotels, houses and villas made of clay and natural stone, some in traditional Nubian style Style partly built in modern Arabic architecture, palm trees, gardens, beaches and pool landscapes. All crossed by bridges and canals that were specially dredged.

Palm trees and Christmas trees

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It is quiet here, almost totenstill, the hotels are currently only about 40-50 per cent loaded, and very clean. Whoever wants to go to El Gouna, must pass through the security controls, also in front of every hotel light barriers. The mobile masts are hidden in palm trees. And in the hotel lobbies now, in the middle of December, there are Christmas trees.

But they are said to be more than a reminder of foreign tourists in an Islamic country: The Founders from El Gouna, the Egyptian entrepreneur Samih Sawiris is a Christian himself. Consequently, there is also a Coptic church in El Gouna next to the mosque.

Sawiris: From the angler to the city developer

Sawiris only wanted to fish here in 1989, but the Egyptian law required him to "develop". So he started building. In the beginning it was just a hotel, a staff area and a supermarket. Today there are 18 hotels, and Sawiris' Orascom Development Holding has reportedly sold more than 2,500 villas and apartments to private individuals to date. The square meter prices are now from $ 1000 upwards.

Finally, the necessary infrastructure was added to the hotels: restaurants and Shops, its own telephone network, a shuttle service from boats and ships, international schools, a hospital with a decompression chamber for divers and a small airport. So far, however, only a third of the 36.8 million square meters of desert area has been built up, leaving room for more.

Pioneer for ecological tourism?

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However, El Gouna sees itself not only as a luxury holiday resort, but as a pioneer of ecological tourism in Egypt: Fresh water is purified from the seawater, the waste water is clarified and then used for irrigating the plants.

Because you do not have enough water for it, even sewage from Hurghada is bought. Different amphorae are available for the separation of waste. But the pride of the city is the recycling system, which is also a pleasure to show the interested tourists:

Here the garbage from Hand sorted and, for example, plastic waste is processed into clothes hangers and granules for the road surface. El Gouna affords an environmental officer. And in Future the city wants to become CO2 neutral.

“People identify with El Gouna”

About 20.000 People Today they live permanently in El Gouna, as PR boss Dorothee Picht explains. She herself has been there for 15 years - first she had a diving school, later she was employed by Orascom. Of the Revolution have felt little here. And anyway, once you're here, you don't want to leave:

“People here identify with El Gouna. On average to earn the people here are also better than elsewhere,” says Picht, who gives her instructions to the Egyptian boat drivers during our little excursion in English and not in the Arabic national language. However, she does not want to generalize the statement with the earnings: "It ultimately depends on the hotel chain." In principle, as she emphasizes, Egyptians are not paid less than Europeans. “What matters is the qualification! "

Education according to European pattern

However, this is all too often a question of one's point of view: in El Gouna there is a German hotel management school that ends with an IHK degree. The language of instruction is German. Anyone who does not yet speak German must first attend an intensive language course. However, attending the hotel management school is subject to a fee. There is a nursing school where after English Curriculum Vitae is taught.

And the technical University Berlin is setting up a satellite campus in Egypt as a scientific outpost. The master's courses in "Energy Engineering", "Urban Development" and "Water Engineering" are offered here, which cost 5000 euros per semester. After all, both the TU Berlin and the Sawiris Foundation offer scholarships.

Living in Cairo

At the latest, however, when one compares El Gouna with the reality in Cairo, PR lady Dorothee Picht could believe that there are many advantages to living and working in the “European colony” on the Red Sea. The Egyptian capital has a population of 21 million and a thick haze hanging above it - and 4,5 million cars.

On the outskirts there are the so-called Mirage Citys, isolated places where the rich can live in peace. Nearby farmers have devastated their own farmland to be used as building land merchandise. They then moved into the half-finished houses themselves. And the garbage that people simply dump here lies meters high in open sewers. In the meantime the canals have started to be filled in and covered over with greenery.

The educational problem in Egypt

Tour guide Tamer Rahmy explains that while there is a garbage disposal, many people are not so well trained and therefore do not understand what the garbage collection does. “So they think they can just throw the garbage on the street. We believe, but if a new government that organizes garbage disposal comes, everything will get better. ”

Actually the missing Vocational Training a problem in Egypt: every fifth Egyptian can neither read nor write, because, for example, parents take their children early from school early to help them on the field.

But even if the children complete the free state schools and universities, that is no guarantee for a good job, because many university graduates do not find a job. Private universities offer better prospects, but they cost a few thousand euros in the semester.

The Revolution witnessed

"Some of the protesters from Tahrir Square are among the very well-educated people who now want to change something in the country," said Rahmy, who lives very close to Egypt's most famous square. He has therefore noticed the revolution up close - and also its effects:

“I used to work free of charge for at least two weeks a month in high season, but this year I only worked one week every two months.” Nevertheless, like many others, Rahmy does not want to turn back the wheel of time: “Many Egyptians are currently confused because they do not know what to do next. On the other hand, there is this feeling of freedom. ”

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