That’s a good question for all the pyramid lovers out there.
In uncertain times, where it is no longer known whether to fear viruses, Isis, old-fashioned terrorists, robberies and kidnappings, or a simple road accidents, I will try to answer the question is Egypt dangerous for tourists in 2021?
Egypt dangerous for tourists, a brief introduction
To start answering, I have to ask you what you want to do in Egypt. Having stumbled upon this blog, I doubt that you belong to a billion-dollar corporation or secret service whose purpose is to overthrow the Egyptian government and install a puppet of the Western powers, right?
So if you are a tourist, the simplest and fastest answer to your question about dangerous Egypt is simply no, Egypt is not dangerous.
That said, you know that simple answers to complex questions are rarely satisfactory (unless you vote for the Italian party Lega and a few others around the world), so it really seems appropriate to address the issue a little more in detail.
Follow me:
- Let’s introduce a distant cousin of Egyptian tourism, the Egyptian economy
- Let’s talk about two friends, Security, and Politics
- A brief overview of the most talked topic of 2020 (I know you are tired of keep hearing this name but stay with me for a second), the Coronavirus.
- Finally, a quick mention of gay/lesbian rights and civil liberties. Yes, I know, we are tourists, but we are tourists of the 21st century my dear.
The economic situation of Egypt
If we want to answer the question if Egypt is dangerous for tourists we have to tackle the economic situation first and then the political one. As for the economy, two quite different stories are told.
One story tells us that the economic management of Al-Sisi and the military, who in one way or another control an important slice of the Egyptian economy, is in fact a success. The GDP growth rate in 2019 was above 5% and this should repeat itself in 2020 (pre-corona hypothesis, I admit). Inflation remains at 10% but in sharp decline from 29% in 2017. Foreign debt will drop slightly and the debt / GDP percentage is also down from 108 to 90 (expected for 2020).
These data put confidence in some international players who have therefore started investing in the Middle Eastern country again. So far so good?
Not exactly. In fact, 58% of the state budget is used to repay the interest on loans taken out and the new lines of credit granted by the IMF have led to very heavy cuts in subsidies for food and fuel, generating obvious resentment in the weakest and poorest parts of the population, which also had to suffer the imposition of VAT.
Official unemployment remains double-digit and in short, we know that austerity policies rarely benefit the local population, at least in the short term.
Security, and politics in 2020
Politically, the situation is much clearer. Al-Sisi remains firmly in power, the generals have a free hand, dissent is crushed and freedom of speech exists as long as one speaks well of the government and does not exaggerate with extravagance, be it artistic or sexual tastes or opinions.
Sinai remains a hot place, better to avoid, especially for tourists, with the exceptions of the touristic enclave like Sharm El Sheik (that suffered a terrorist attack in 2005). The flight of the Russian company Metrojet crashed in the Sinai, probably due to a bomb on board, on 31 October 2015, and clashes between the Egyptian army and terrorists practically take place every month.
Despite this, as previously said, Sharm El Sheik remains heavily guarded and outside the range of the terrorist cells. In a few words, safe.
In the rest of the country, with due attention (remember the attack in Luxor in 1997 and that of Taba on a tourist bus in 2004), the situation seems to be much quieter than in the Sinai region.
Petty crime and road accidents
Petty crime and traffic accidents should certainly worry you more than terrorism. Egyptian roads are not always in good condition and are driven by vehicles with a state of repair that is not always spotless. Getting around, especially at night, can be dangerous.
Cairo also has a particular status in connection to all petty crimes such as pickpocketing, theft, and, for female tourists, harassment. Harassment on the street, and elsewhere, is a very serious problem in Egypt, especially if you stray off the beaten tourist routes.
Egypt dangerous for tourists…or not? The LGBT rights
In terms of equal rights for the LGBT community, Egypt still has a long long way to go. As this Wikipedia page clearly shows, being homosexual is not formally recognized as a crime. In the last 20 years, however, there has been a tightening of the authorities and frequent interventions against homosexual parties and any act that may, according to the authorities, violate religious and moral norms.
In 2017, a bill was made to make homosexuality a crime.
In any case, homosexual relationships or acts of any kind can lead to a sentence of 17 years in prison. Middle Ages here we come!
Egypt and the Coronavirus
The corona caused approximately 7,900 deaths as of the 7th of January 2021, with a total of approximately 145,590 infected.
There are restrictions on distances, the use of masks, and the capacity of accommodation facilities, locked at 50%.
At the end of 2020, we have to say that the recovery of tourism in the brief summer period, was almost nonexistent. The final numbers of 2020 reveal that the number of tourists dropped from 13.1 million to 3.5 million (with a corresponding drop in revenue of almost 70%).
Egypt dangerous for tourists, conclusion
If you are a tourist traveling to one of the resorts on the southern Red Sea (Marsa Alam, Quseir, and Berenice) or Hurgada, or in one of the hotels in Sharm, the dangers will most likely come from the bloated and tasteless portions of the buffets than from terrorism or petty crime. You may have to bargain a bit if you want to take some hikes but, it is being understood that the virus situation does not get worse this winter, everything should be ordinary in 2021.
Different, very different, is the matter if you travel independently or are based in Cairo. Common crime exists in all big cities and as a tourist, you will be a flashy target, quite inviting and easy to fool. Nothing that an experienced traveler hasn’t already faced but if you’re a novice it could be quite stressful. This is still Africa.
Finally, a mention of the situations related to the death of Giulio Regeni and the case of Patrick Zaky. The responses of the Egyptian government in the Regeni case have been, in the face of a clear responsibility of the government security apparatus, simply inadequate if not ridiculous.
The Patrick Zaky case is still open. The detention period was recently extended by another 45 days. The attention on the case gives hope that the terrible consequences, like that of Giulio Regeni, will be avoided. Nonetheless, Patrick remains in prison, without a precise charge and without evidence of any crimes committed, by now since February 2020.
The battle for justice will be long and you will hardly become part of it, but in 2021, even if we are only tourists trying to answer the question “is Egypt dangerous for tourists?” we must address the issue of civil rights and of innocent lives taken by authoritarian governments. Then we decide what to do with the information we have.
The post about Egypt dangerous for tourists or, better to say, not dangerous is over. If you want to continue the travel these are my suggestions:
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