Peaks and Valleys

PHOTO: Locations such as the pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Giza see fewer crowds since the Arab Spring.

Three years after the Arab Spring took place in Egypt, the world has practically abandoned this storied destination. A country that relies on tourism for a large portion of its GDP has taken a huge hit economically from the loss of its most important industry. Nile cruise ships sit idle, with tables and chairs tied up on their decks, and the people who worked on them are no longer employed. The country is suffering, based on a widely held misconception about the safety of traveling there, and Phil Otterson, Abercrombie & Kent’s president, decided to do something about it.

For Abercrombie & Kent, as for many in the tourism industry, it was personal. A&K has an office in Cairo with a highly qualified staff – with nothing to do. The Egyptian people are suffering, and when you know them personally, it’s more than just some flickers on a television screen. These are real people. Many Egyptians who formerly earned their livelihoods in the tourism business have been out of work for three years.

Otterson decided to personally lead a tour of Egypt, a President’s Tour that would demonstrate A&K’s belief that Egypt is not only a safe place to travel, but still one of the most magnificent tourism destinations in the world.

“We are a company of many DMCs [Destination Management Companies] around the world,” said Otterson, “and I just felt a real need to support our employees in Egypt. That’s really the reason. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had a normal flow of travelers there. It’s all about supporting our colleagues. I don’t want to sound too altruistic, but it isn’t about the bottom line.”

A&K put The President’s Tour of Egypt up for sale and the response surpassed their most optimistic expectations. A&K was looking to put together one of its small groups, maximum 18 guests. The first one filled up rapidly, and so they added another group that they would operate simultaneously. They ended up with four groups, 72 people.

“The reason that people were there was because of their desire to see Egypt,” said Otterson. “They have a desire to witness the historic change for themselves. As I mentioned to them in a speech I made to them on the boat on the last night, ‘You’ll be able to remember March of 2014 and say you were there during this period, and that you were safe. You saw all the things you wanted to see, but you were there during this rare opportunity in the political cycle, which also gave you an opportunity to visit some of the most important World Heritage sites without a ton of people around you, which is a side benefit.’”

Adding to the enthusiasm may have been the fact that A&K offered the trip for a cut-rate price. It was a chance to travel with one of the top luxury tour operators for about half the usual cost.

Egypt and the Nile

The President’s Tour of Egypt followed the itinerary of A&K’s regular Egypt & the Nile tour. It started in Cairo with a stay at the Mena House Hotel, where you can actually see Khufu, the greatest of the Great Pyramids from the window of many of the guestrooms.

The tour starts with an exploration of the twin cities Cairo and Giza. On this trip, it was possible to walk right up to the pyramids with no problems, an almost unheard of situation before three years ago. Under normal conditions before the Arab Spring, visitors to the Pyramids and the Sphinx had to find a way to get through the crowds.

The Egypt and the Nile tour first explores the Pyramids and the Sphinx – A&K guests were offered the chance to go inside the pyramid of Khufu. It visits the Egyptian museum in Cairo, then some of the antiquities in the surrounding area at Memphis and Karnak.

After the Cairo/Giza segment of the trip, participants flew to Luxor and visited the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, then boarded A&K’s cruise ship, the Sanctuary Sun Boat IV, and began a four-night cruise of the upper Nile. The cruise stopped at major historical sites along the way, including the Temple of Hathor at Denderah and temples at Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswan and Abu Simbel.

PHOTO: Egyptologists bring ancient Egypt to life as they tell the stories behind the monuments.

As always, the groups were escorted by Egyptologists who brought ancient Egypt to life as they told the stories behind the monuments. There were few tourists at any of the sites. Visitors mainly encountered local Egyptians and sometimes groups of Russians or Germans.

There were no issues of security reported. “I don’t remember anyone on the trip telling me that they were uncomfortable,” said Otterson. The company, of course, took all appropriate precautions to ensure that no issues would arise.

“In situations such as this we make every effort to make sure our guests are safe, and I think we accomplished that,” Otterson added.

Most of the precautions were invisible to guests, such as plainclothes security guards. But there were no incidents of any kind, and no complaints about security at any time during the trip.

When four motorcoaches were struggling to maneuver down the narrow streets of the market area, local Egyptians waved, gave thumbs up and threw kisses to express their appreciation for tourists coming back to Egypt. It was a surprising reception for those present, including Otterson.

“We were walking down the street. And I kept meeting people and they were saying things like, ‘Are you from America? Thank you for coming. Don’t worry about buying anything, just be here.’”

Otterson said he hoped the trip made its point.

“We wanted to bring Egypt to the attention of American travel agents and everybody in the travel business in the U.S.,” said Otterson, “because we believe in the destination, which is on the road to returning to normalcy — it will occur, maybe not immediately, but it will occur.”

A&K wanted to bring Americans a point of reference about Egypt other than the stories that are portrayed on the news. “What we did with the President’s Tour was bring an honest appraisal of the situation in Egypt to the travel industry in America,” said Otterson. “So if Mrs. Schwarzburger is asking her travel agent about going to Egypt, she can call us and make her mind up based on what we said. Or she can call somebody else who went and ask them. Hopefully, we made some progress for people’s opinions about what’s happening there.”

Progress

Since the March trip, Egypt has concluded its presidential election peacefully and chosen a new president. The heat of the Egyptian summer tends to discourage tourism, but most in the industry were hoping that by the coming fall, the flow of tourism to Egypt would begin again. It may have already begun.

Jean Fawcett, A&K’s media relations manager, recently wrote, “Despite what you might think, travelers are returning to Egypt — resulting in sold-out departures and waiting lists. Abercrombie & Kent has seen such strong demand that we’ve added five new departures of Egypt & the Nile this October and November and have announced 2015 dates early.”

Egypt’s tourism industry has never been hit as hard as in the past three years, but it has been through many peaks and valleys.

PHOTO: Abercrombie & Kent tour visiting the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.

“We opened this office in 1985,” said Otterson, “and since that time there have been many ups and downs. There was Luxor in the 1990s, and there have been many other events, as there are in destinations around the world. But guests always return, because they want to see those last surviving wonders of the ancient world. Forget about everything else, when you are in Abu Simbel or when you are at the Temple of Luxor and night falls and the lights come on, it’s magical. And people really want to see that. Everybody wants to see that.

“It’s not about politics or the president of the company being there or anything like that,” he said. “It’s about wanting to know and understand and learn. And those people were a very strong example of pent-up demand because there wasn’t anybody who was not listening to every word and asking every question. The Egyptologists were blown away. I was with all four groups all week, from group to group, and the questions were so fluid and the relationships the people built up with the Egyptologists were so real because they appreciated all that knowledge.”

Otterson hopes travelers will return to Egypt sooner rather than later. But he is confident that “the destination will come back, maybe not right away, but it will come back. It always does.”