Cross-border tourism

A package including four countries in the Middle East with seamless transfers: Rehab Saad examines the possibility of reviving Biblical tours

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The ministers of tourism of Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Palestine met on 14 September at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada to discuss future cooperation on tourist projects. The meeting, a sign of the improving political climate that has followed Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, ended in the announcement that a permanent forum for the promotion of tourism within the region would be set up.

Expected areas of cooperation include the joint marketing of itineraries and resorts, cross-border investment packages and the improved flow of tourists between the participating countries. Mechanisms will be put in place for the exchange of information, and joint press conferences, tourism exhibitions and advertising workshops will be scheduled.

If all goes to plan tourists will soon be able to arrive in Cairo then visit Israel, tour areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority and sites in Jordan and then return to Cairo in a single package.

Hala El-Khateeb, spokesperson for Egypt's Ministry of Tourism, told Al-Ahram Weekly that discussions in Hurghada had focused on joint programmes to market the four countries, with particular emphasis on North Sinai and Gaza.

"There will also be joint marketing and promotional campaigns for religious tourism in the region," she said.

Elhamy El-Zayyat, head of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers, welcomed the initiative. Religious tourism, he said, tends to target travellers from long haul destinations such as the US, Latin America, Canada and South Asia. "Travellers interested in following the route of the Holy Family, for instance, can only do that if there is full coordination between these four countries," he pointed out.

Before the outbreak of the Intifada in October 2000 Biblical tourism had been gaining ground, the most popular itinerary including Jerusalem then travel to Jordan to visit the Dead Sea area followed by a trip to Egypt to visit sites associated with the Holy Family. The hopes are that business will once again pick up.

Hassan Abdel-Ghani El-Kerdani, secretary-general of the Egyptian Chamber of Tourist Establishments, argues that in the absence of greater cooperation all four countries will lose out on the potentially lucrative Biblical market.

El-Khateeb revealed the ministers had discussed the possibility of a jointly asking the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) to canvas the UN to revise regulations covering travel advisories issued by the US and European countries. "The four countries also reviewed travel advisories that they issue against each other," she said .

The ministers agreed to strengthen security at transit points and to facilitate the issuing of visas and quicker passage through border checkpoints. "These are the fruits of peace. We will be acting together to show the world we can do business here like anywhere else and that this will be for the benefit of all the people of the region," Israeli Tourism Minister Abraham Hirchson told Haaretz.

Meetings between the four ministers will continue on a quarterly basis to review progress, with the next scheduled for December in Palestine.

Calls for greater cooperation in the field of tourism are hardly new. Following the 1994 MENA Summit in Casablanca the Middle East-Mediterranean Travel and Tourism Association (MEMTTA) was established, with Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey as members.

The goals outlined by MEMTTA were similar to those announced in Hurghada and included joint marketing efforts, closer coordination and cooperation in developing tourism, and the smoother processing of visas and faster border crossings. MEMTTA held several meetings, the last of which was in September 2000, a month before the eruption of the Aqsa Intifada, since when the organisation has sunk into obscurity.