Wiser tourism

MINISTER of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui inaugurated Egypt's first international conference on Tourism Development in Environmentally Sensitive Areas on Tuesday, reports Rehab Saad . The three-day conference entitled "Sustainable Tourism -- Egypt 2003" covered issues dealing with global initiatives in sustainable development, environmental impact management, eco-tourism, environmental planning and land use management.

The gathering is organised by the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) affiliated to the Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with the Red Sea Sustainable Tourism Initiative (RSSTI) and the support of USAID's Egyptian Environmental Policy Programme. It was attended by Magdy Kobeicy, head of the Tourist Development Authority, US ambassador David Welch, representatives of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organisation. Also attending were Egyptian and foreign environmental and tourist organisations, hotel developers, managers and tour operators, as well as sustainable tourism practitioners and researchers.

"Tourism and the environment are two sides of the same coin," said El-Beltagui. "We have sought to appropriately balance concerns for each at the outset," he added. He explained that this involved a number of specific policy initiatives such as measures related to land and coastal zoning, economic incentives, monitoring and evaluating the impact of tourist facilities on the environment and drafting legislation to protect the environment in relation to tourism.

The conference marks three years since the birth of Egypt's sustainable tourism programme for the Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula -- 10 years since the declaration of the 1993 Biodiversity Convention -- and follows the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN proclamation that 2002 is the year of International Eco-tourism.

Editor-in-jail

ON SUNDAY Mohamed Abdel-'Al chief editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Watan Al- Arabi was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fired from his post and fined LE40,000 after a Cairo State Security Court found him guilty of receiving bribes from businessmen in exchange for not criticising their activities. The newspaper -- which has a reputation of exposing corruption cases as well as being sensational -- was also ordered to shut down as a result of the verdict.

Sayed Abdel-Gawad, a journalist at the newspaper, was sentenced to a five-year term for acting as the go-between for Abdel-'Al and businessman Mohamed Mursi. In the process he received LE30,000 on his editor's behalf. Like Abdel-Gawad, Mursi received a five-year term.

Abdel-'Al, who also heads the Social Justice Party, was arrested while trying to flee the country in the aftermath of the verdict. Journalist Mahmoud El-Ghalban, Raafat Salama and Ahmed Zaki, both employees of the Social Development Fund, were acquitted.

Palestine at AUC

IN AN EFFORT to raise awareness over the plight of Palestinian children, the Performing and Visual Arts Department and Faculty for Palestine at the American University in Cairo (AUC) invited 23 children from the Al- Rowwad Theatre Group of the Aida Refugee Camp to perform at AUC and other venues. They arrived in Egypt on 22 May and will remain until 1 June.

The trip was organised as part of the AUC 2002-2003 academic year under the theme "Year of Palestine", and is also funded by the Canada Fund, the Ford Foundation and the UNDP. The main goals of this initiative are to provide an opportunity to hear the voices of children who live in almost complete isolation and have no audience. It also gives the children a chance to leave the limited space of their camp and make their voices heard in a larger forum.

"It is very difficult for a theatre group not to have an audience, yet this group has persisted and managed to remain intact for several years now," said Samia Mehrez, associate professor of Arabic and part of the steering committee that organised the event. The group's programme includes a play called We are the Children of the Camp, Dabka dance and puppet shows and testimonies by the children. Performances will also take place at the Opera House.

Re-routing damage

A TEAM of top officials embarked on an inspection tour on Saturday to put an end to the controversy over a section of the Cairo-Aswan highway which passes through important archaeological sites. The ministers of construction and housing communities, agriculture and culture, along with the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the governor of Sohag and a group of engineers and traffic planners congregated to the site to find a solution to the problem.

They are required to revise the 6 kilometre stretch and reach a compromise which will be presented to President Hosni Mubarak in order to make a final decision on what will be done. The controversy was sparked when construction began on the section of the road linking Assiut to Aswan. Archaeologists from the SCA argued that the road would cause irrevocable damage to major archaeological sites at Abydos, an important pilgrimage destination for Ancient Egyptians.

Better connection

BRITISH Airways (BA) has decided to increase its capacity to Egypt's second city, Alexandria, by 30 per cent to meet the expected increased demand during the peak summer months. Starting 4 June, BA will fly between London and Alexandria four times a week.

Nagui Mahdi of British Mediterranean Airways, the long-haul franchise carrier which operates routes in the Levant and Africa for British Airways, said that Alexandria has become a more popular tourist destination for European travellers. "The new flight will also help develop trade links between Egypt and Britain," Mahdi said.

He added that the new flight will mean that they will be able to offer more choice on the route, and better connections with the worldwide services of BA. Passengers connecting to the British Airways hub at Heathrow will also be able to have same day arrivals to over 550 destinations in 134 countries beyond London.