Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 83–87

www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Sustainable tourism development in the Red Sea of Egypt

threats and opportunities
Ihab Mohamed Shaalan 
1-A, Essam El Daly ST., Dokki 12311, Egypt

Received 24 December 2001; accepted 18 December 2003

Abstract

Egypt is looking into the possibilities for diversifying its tourism opportunities throughout the country. The main target for
expanding the tourism sector is nature-based tourism. The coral reefs and rich marine life in South Sinai and the Red Sea coast
have made these two areas among the premier scuba diving destinations in the world. Many beach resorts are now in operation
and there are still hundreds to be constructed. However, previous tourism development in Egypt has resulted in a series of nega-
tive environmental impacts. The ambitious development plans to receive 16 million tourists by 2017 should take into consider-
ation sustainability concepts. The government and developers have significant roles to play in adopting and implementing
environmentally sound policies and practices to avoid the degradation of the natural heritage of Egypt for the sake of the current
as well as future generations.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Tourism; Sustainability; Red Sea environment; Tourism impacts; Environmental policy

1. Background 2. Tourism development along the Red Sea coast

Egypt has a population of 70 million people [1] with
an average annual population growth rate of 1.9 per-
cent [2] and the recently liberated growing economy is
seeking to increase its income from the tourism sector.
The history of the Pharaohs that goes back 3100 years
[3], the archaeological sites and the cultural heritage
position of Egypt make it one of the world’s foremost
travel destinations for cultural tourism.
Recognizing its potential to be a destination for nat-
ure-based tourism, Egypt is developing a region, which
was until recently considered a remote non-inhabited
area of the country: the Red Sea Coast.
Due to the lack of statistics and studies in this area,
this paper is an attempt to shed light on areas of con-
cern and to invite more research on the topic in this
unique part of the world.

Tel.: +20-2-7488751.
E-mail address: imshaalan@yahoo.com (I.M. Shaalan).
0959-6526/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2003.12.012
Until recently, the Red Sea region had very few
economic activities and was one of the least populated
regions of Egypt. These activities include offshore oil
exploration, phosphate mining, and fishing on a lim-
ited scale. Starting from the early 1990s, the Red Sea
region has been targeted for massive tourism develop-
ment in Egypt. In 2000, the existing number of rooms
was 10,549 representing 22.2 percent of the total hotel
accommodation capacity in Egypt. The target for
2012 is to achieve 140,000 rooms [4] primarily by con-
structing new resorts and secondly by expanding the
existing ones. The majority of the resorts are built
along a coastal stretch of about 300 km with about
50–300 m coastal setback depending on the shoreline
conditions.
Since diving and snorkeling are among the favorable
tourism activities in the Red Sea, most of the resorts
aim at constructing jetties and marinas to accommo-
date diving boats.
84 I.M. Shaalan / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 83–87

3. The question of sustainability for Red Sea

tourism development

To address the issue of sustainability, it is essential

to study the three tiers of sustainable development:
economy, society and environment.
Due to the lack of documented information and
absence of statistics, this paper will just shed light on
the major issues that might be pose threats to the pat-
tern of tourism development in the Red Sea region.
Economically, the international tourism revenues
supposedly gained by the destination might actually be
subject to erosion in a variety of ways, both direct and
indirect. It is estimated that tourism destinations in
developing countries tend to receive only about one-
half of the gross expenditures incurred by an inbound
tourist. This is largely because these tourists originated
in developed areas, which hosted travel agencies, tour
operators, airlines and hotel chains used by the
majority of outbound travellers who travel through
package tours [5]. It is expected that the destination
forfeits almost all of the average 20 percent of the tra-
vel costs associated with tour operators and retains
only about 7–9 percent of air-fare costs in the form of
landing fees, fuel costs, servicing arrangements and
other functions carried out at the destination. In this
case, the dependency of the destination upon foreign
carriers, travel agencies, etc., translates not only into a
concession of control over vital elements of the tourism
Fig. 1. Generalised allocation of tourist expenditure [10].
industry, but also into a tangible loss of potential
income. The portion of travel expenditure actually fil-
tering through to the destination in the long term is in observed that many of the new inhabitants of the Red
itself then reduced by a variety of possible leakages [6]. Sea region do not totally mobilize with their families.
The demand fluctuation is a characteristic of the This can be due to a lack of community services, lack
mass 3S (sand, sea and sun) tourism and it leads to sig- of job security or other socio-economic reasons. No
nificant fluctuations in revenue intake. This leads to studies are available in that field to explain this charac-
employment problems represented in laying off a num- teristic of the new residents in the Red Sea.
ber of seasonal workers and/or reducing the salaries of Environmentally, there are some foreign donors-
others. The problem of the seasonal unemployment sponsored studies that address the potential threats to
expands to others who have jobs indirectly associated the natural Red Sea environment.
with the tourism industry. The northern part of the red Sea has the highest
Fig. 1 shows that the majority of tourist expenditure coral diversity and number of islands while the south
goes back in different forms to the international com- has the highest terrestrial biodiversity for the whole
panies hosted in developed countries. This identifies country [7]. The marine realm exhibits a wide spectrum
how host destinations may be exposed to the revenue of ecosystem, habitat and species diversity due to the
leakage characteristic of mass tourism. variation and interplay of the substrate types. The spe-
In the case of the Red Sea, the above theory applies cial combination of warm, clear water and limited
perfectly where foreign tour operators dominate the freshwater runoff from adjacent arid lands has con-
majority of tourism activities and they enforce very low tributed to extensive coral-reef development through-
room rates through their bargaining power. There are out the entire Red Sea region. The coral reefs cover a
no studies available that estimate the revenue leakage distance of about 1500 km along the Red Sea coastline
and the impacts of reduced room rates. including islands, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of
Socially, the massive tourism development has cre- Aqaba. Over 300 species of corals have been recorded
ated many job opportunities. This has resulted in in the entire Red Sea, 200 of them have been noted in
increases in the population of the Red Sea region and Egypt alone. These numbers are greater than those
the creation of new communities. However, it is recorded for the nearby Arabian Sea or the Caribbean
 I.M. Shaalan / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 83–87
and are equal to the highest recorded number of spe-
cies in the Indian Ocean. A fairly high percentage of
some fish groups associated with coral reefs in the Red
Sea are endemic [7].
The Red Sea is home to four species of marine tur-
tles—the hawksbill, the green, leatherback and logger-
head—all of which are globally threatened. Dugongs
are also found in the Red Sea and classified as vulner-
able. Hundreds of coastal birds and migratory species
are frequent visitors to the Red Sea shores to find food
and resting places during the long-haul flight from
Siberia to South Africa, as the southern coast is part of
the ‘‘Pale Arctic African Flyway’’. The Egyptian Red
Sea holds half of the known breeding population of the
White-eyed Gull in the world; a species listed as endan-
gered by the IUCN Red Data Book [8].
The various environmental stresses associated with
tourism can be grouped in four types [9]:
- Permanent environmental restructuring incorporating
facilities directly related to tourism such as hotels,
golf courses, marinas, access roads, water and sewage
treatment plants, power generation plants, etc.;
- Generation of wastes and transportation;
- Tourist activities; and
- Effect on population dynamics or induced impact of
tourism.
The tendency to develop facilities very close to the
coast threatens the coral reefs, mangroves, beaches and
aquatic species. Marinas and golf courses attract more
tourists and add more value to a resort, therefore most
resorts are eager to have their own marinas and prob-
ably share golf courses with other nearby resorts. The
construction and operation of individual marinas for
each resort is usually accompanied by destruction of
coral reefs, sedimentation and changes in shorelines, oil
spills and increased pressure on the marine life due to
increased human activities.
Golf courses consume large quantities of water; use
pesticides and fertilizers resulting in increased nutrients
in soils and possible seepage of polluted water to the
ground water table and eventually to the sea.
The construction activities of hotels and supporting
infrastructure generate considerable quantities of
wastes, which in most cases are improperly disposed of.
Also, the air borne particulates during construction, oil
spills and uncontrolled workers activities may disturb
the surrounding ecosystem.
The operation of resorts has significant environmen-
tal impacts on the environment. Air pollution results
mainly from power generation and transportation of
tourists, workers, and goods. Untreated wastewater
contaminates the ground water and if discharged to the
sea will harm the marine ecosystem. Improper solid
85
waste disposal and lack of management may result in
health problems and negative aesthetic impact. Hotels
use significant amounts of detergents and chemicals for
different hotel activities, and these can result in dama-
ges to the ecosystem if they reach the natural sensitive
environment.
Tourist activities may have significant negative
environmental impacts. Some tourists may damage the
reefs intentionally to keep samples as souvenirs; others
may throw garbage in the sea. During safaris, tourists
may disturb wild life, affect the sensitive ecosystem and
leave traces of human activities in a pristine environ-
ment.
4. Discussion and analysis
The Red Sea tourism development can provide a sig-
nificant contribution to economic and social develop-
ment. There are strong signs in the newly developed
areas in the Red Sea region, which indicate that it is
moving in the direction of mass 3S packaged tourism.
Although the ownership of lands is mostly by local citi-
zens, the management is primarily through inter-
national hotel chains. Most of the tourism in the Red
Sea region is organised by international tour operators.
These tour operators exert very high pressure on the
Red Sea resorts to lower their prices in return for
guaranteeing a certain percentage of occupancy around
the year. The inter-competition between the resorts to
sustain a minimum income adds more power to the
tour operators and weakens the resorts in their negoti-
ation for packaged deals.
Although it was not possible, in this paper, to calcu-
late the leakage of the tourism revenues in the Red Sea
region, the theory supports the belief that there is very
little capture of the tourists’ expenditure by the local
economy. Most of the signs describing the different
forms of revenue leakage exist in the Red Sea region
such as international management hotel chains and
market domination by foreign tour operators.
On the other hand, job creation and the multiplier
effect of the tourism industry is obvious in the Red Sea
region. There are thousands of Egyptians who work in
the tourism sector and many others are somehow
related to it through supporting services. The tourism
industry in the Red Sea region has created new socie-
ties and encouraged the start up of many small busi-
nesses. Infrastructure and supporting services have
been established, thus creating the chance for hosting
new societies away from the narrow over populated
Nile Valley.
The social impact of tourism development in the Red
Sea region is not obvious except in minor signs. Being
a tourism destination for such a long period has cre-
ated familiarity among most Egyptians with foreigners
86 I.M. Shaalan / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 83–87
in general and tourists specifically. There are no signs
of cultural shocks or clashes due to differences between
the conservative Egyptian culture and European liberal
culture. The reason is obviously due to the understand-
ing that this foreign culture is not posing a threat to
local traditions and/or due to the familiarity of
Egyptians to foreigners in general. However, there
might be unacceptable practices by tourists that offend
the local communities and might also create opposing
movements to tourism development.
The strong Egyptian culture and traditions are
unlikely to be significantly affected by foreign cultures
and habits. However, the threat posed to the Bedouin
society in the Red Sea region by the fast growing devel-
opment and the potential of losing their identity and
traditional habits is likely to be high. The fear comes
from the possibility of commoditisation of their culture
and habits by the tourism industry. There are also fears
of losing traditional fishing and grazing sites where new
construction activities are going to take place.
Environmentally, the impacts of the tourism devel-
opment are obvious in the early-developed tourism des-
tinations in the Red Sea region. The eagerness to be as
close as possible to the sea and to own a private beach
drove the resorts to destroy the coral reefs and con-
struct many structures that resulted in severe harm to
the marine environment. The uncontrolled diving and
marine activities of big numbers of tourists resulted in
obvious and documented disturbance to the marine life
in some areas that were famous for marine biodi-
versity. The absence of environmental regulations at
one point and the weak enforcement of newly
developed environmental laws have increased the tend-
ency to exploit all or most of the natural resources in a
non-sustainable manner. The problems of littering and
improper solid waste management in addition to con-
struction wastes are seen to have not only very high
negative environmental impact but also negative pub-
licity, which reduces the quality of the destination.
There are clear signs of change in the type of tourism
for those destinations, which were famous for marine
biodiversity. Those destinations were attracting tourists
who were willing to pay more for the uniqueness of the
biodiversity in that destination. Currently, the same
destinations have lost their uniqueness and environ-
mental reputation and attract low priced 3S packaged
tourists. The signs for environmental degradation are
also demonstrated in marketing those destinations,
where the competition on price is the main marketing
tool used by the resorts and tour operators. This was
not the case 10 years ago when those destinations were
marketed mainly as areas with unique biodiversity.
There are serious fears that the current development
in the rest of the Red Sea coast will follow the same
pattern of development that took place earlier. The
fears come from the development of the luxury resorts
with huge numbers of rooms managed by international
hotel chains and dominated by international tour
operators. The high expectations of receiving 16
million tourists puts pressure on the development plan-
ners and environmentalists to take measures to make
sure that this number of visitors will not exceed the
carrying capacity of the environment in the planned
development areas and that proper environmental
management will be in place prior to actual operation.
5. Stakeholders discussion
The main stakeholders concerned with the issue of
sustainable tourism in the Red Sea region are: devel-
opers (investors), hoteliers, government authorities,
tourists, tour operators and Egyptian society, repre-
sented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Developers (investors) are given many economic
incentives to invest in tourism development. They are
requested by environmental law to submit Environ-
mental Impact Assessments (EIAs) prior to the start of
any construction activities. The weak enforcement of
the Law (as in the case of many developing countries)
does not prohibit the developer to proceed with con-
struction. From the developer’s point of view, EIAs are
just more papers to be submitted to the bureaucratic
government authorities. The developer is not pressured
by the environmental law and the government autho-
rities (except the environmental authority) will, in fact,
encourage the developer to accomplish the planned
development, to fulfill the national economic develop-
ment plans.
Hoteliers, in the absence, or weak enforcement, of
environmental laws, only have the motivation to
behave in an environmentally responsible manner if
they feel pressure from guests or tour operators.
Guests (tourists) are mainly concerned with price and
secondly the quality of the destination. If environmen-
tal degradation occurs in a destination, quality tourists
are likely to change their visits to other destinations
rather than pressuring the destination to change its
environmental practices.
Tour operators have the highest influence on hoteliers
in the case of the Red Sea region. The tour operators
are mainly concerned with the quality of the desti-
nation and they exercise high pressure to get better
deals. In response to local pressure from NGOs in their
origin countries, many tour operators are currently
developing environmental standards that they require
destinations to fulfil. The tour operators initiative to
‘green’ the business is an example of upcoming
environmental concerns, however, the pressure of tour
operators on the Red Sea hotels is still focusing on
tourism quality standards and price.
 I.M. Shaalan / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 83–87
The last signal the government authorities want to
give to an investor is increases of bureaucratic steps in
the investment process. Economic pressures and the
need to create jobs for the fast growing population,
and to absorb as many unemployed citizens as
possible, crush the environmental concerns regarding
planned developments. It is not foreseen that environ-
mental considerations will be regarded as of equal
importance as economic needs. Despite all government
announcements regarding the adoption of sustainable
development concepts, the policies and ‘‘on the
ground’’ practices are still far from being sustainable.
In the Red Sea region, there are very few NGOs,
which can exert any pressure to the benefit of the
environment. With the lack of financial and human
capacity, the NGOs are mostly dependent on foreign
and local financial assistance. The role that NGOs can
play is limited and there are no signs that this will
change in the near future.
6. Conclusion
The Red Sea region has a unique environment,
which is considered one of its competitive marketing
advantages. There are signs of environmental degra-
dation in early-developed Red Sea destinations in the
region. This degradation has resulted in depriving
those destinations from their high quality competitive
advantage and they started to lower prices when the
pattern of tourism changed from tourists who seek
uniqueness to the traditional 3S packaged tourists.
The leakage of revenues from the tourism business is
very likely to occur in the Red Sea region due to the
nature and characteristics of the type of tourism devel-
opment taking place there. Meanwhile, there are few
impacts on the social side due to the strong Egyptian
local culture and the familiarity of Egyptians with
tourists and foreigners.
The analysis of stakeholders in the tourism develop-
ment in the Red Sea region suggests that the tour
operators are the most influential and without includ-
ing environmental standards in their negotiations with
the operating hotels, it is unlikely that there will be
substantial change in the behaviour of new or existing
hotels.
The government can avoid the dilemma of encour-
aging destructive development, and instead protect the
environment by clearly announcing the sustainable
development concept in all its authorities. Commitment
towards protecting the natural heritage of Egypt is
87
required in order to harmonize development and
environment protection.
Finally, it is concluded that more environmental
awareness efforts should be targeted on tourists and
local communities in order to create the demand for
environment protection and exert more pressure on the
different stakeholders to respond to the need to main-
tain and preserve pristine and sensitive environments in
different regions in the world.
It is also recommended to invite more researches to
study the impacts of tourism development in the Red
Sea region, especially on the economic and social
sides.
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Ihab Mohamed Shaalan holds a Masters Degree in environmental
management and policy from the International Institute for Indus-
trial Environmental Economics at Lund University in Sweden. His
background is power engineering and he is a graduate of the Fac-
ulty of Engineering, Cairo University (1993). Mr. Shaalan currently
works as an independent environmental consultant in Egypt. Ear-
lier, he worked as a consultant for the Energy Conservation and
Environment Project, funded by the US government and hosted by
Cairo University. The expertise of Mr. Shaalan covers a wide range
in the energy and environment fields with specialization in auditing
and implementing environmental management systems.