DEL 11° ARTÍCULO La resurrección de la carne

This section is designed to identify the main governmental institutions that are concerned with ecotourism development.

Ecotourism development has two main pillars, tourism and the environment. The governmental institutions in Egypt that are concerned with both elements can be divided into two main categories (see Figure 4-13). The first group is tourism agencies and includes the Supreme Council of Tourism (SCT), and the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and its units – Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) and Tourism Development Authority (TDA). The second group is the environmental agencies and encompasses the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs (MSEA) and its executive arm, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA). The following section seeks to describe the role and functions of these agencies, identifying overlapping competences and offering ideas as to how their activities could be better integrated to promote ecotourism development. The research begins by describing the key governmental tourism agencies followed by the key environmental institutions.

Figure (4-13) Ecotourism development institutions in Egypt Source: The author

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Supreme Council of Tourism (SCT) was established according to a Presidential Decree in 1975. It aims to coordinate different Ministries in the implementation of development plans and specify the role of each Ministry in boosting tourism, as well as removing all the constraints hindering tourism development (Elquisoni 2012). The Council sessions are held under the presidency of the Prime Minister, and the membership of this Council comprises the Heads of the Ministries and the authorities whose tasks interact and integrate with tourism activities (Helmy 1999; TDA et al. 2009). The SCT is theoretically considered to be a broad authority, and should be an effective body for coping with cross-ministerial issues. Although the SCT has the power to pass decrees concerning tourism development, which should be applied and implemented by all other ministries and agencies, it has been unsuccessful in this role. It has been reorganised several times (the last time was in 2005) in an attempt to try and ensure it can better fulfil its functions. But these changes have not been successful (TDA et al. 2009). An interviewee suggested that SCT could become more effective by establishing a Project Panel Committee (planning and implementation unit) which included all the stakeholders and key experts to provide co-ordination between the different ministries and authorities for each project (EC-20).

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is the official national institution for planning, promoting and developing tourism activities in Egypt. It has the following responsibilities:

-To enable the private sector to be involved and invest in tourism development; -To protect the natural and man-made resources;

-To boost sustainable tourism development;

-To ensure the best possible quality of the tourism product through guidance and control;

-To ensure the development of the required tourism regulations and legislation; and

-To draw up the future strategies for developing and promoting tourism (El- Barmelgy 2002).

The MOT fulfils its promotional responsibilities directly through the ETA, and shares, with the TDA, tourism related developmental and regulatory responsibilities

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(TDA et al. 2009). However, the MOT’s role in the development of ecotourism more specifically is not satisfactory as it has tended to focus more on mass tourism products (EC-1). The national strategic plan for sustainable tourism development, which was prepared in 2009, suggested that to modify and enhance MOT’s responsibilities:

-It should focus on policy, strategy and monitoring, leaving implementation to its agencies;

-Better control of its agencies could be achieved by setting targets and monitoring performance; and

-It should take responsibility for the regulation of tourism businesses and the coordination of the efforts of the public and private sectors (TDA et al. 2009).

Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA): The main objective of the ETA is the promotion of tourism both externally and internally by devising and delivering world- class marketing programmes. It has established permanent offices around the world to provide help and guidance to foreign tourism agents and operators (El-Barmelgy 2002). It has been mandated, according to Presidential Decree No. 134, as being responsible for:

- Evaluating Egyptian tourism products;

-Setting up programmes for tourism promotion (domestic and international); and

-Providing technical and marketing assistance and cooperating with the other tourist authorities in terms of tourism promotion.

The ETA’s objective is to increase international tourism revenue via cooperation with national and international tour operators, and accommodation providers, etc. Therefore, the ETA should cooperate with all the tourism development stakeholders to modify tourism products according to global trends (TDA et al. 2009). The ETA has Regional Branch Offices (RBOs) in the main Governorates with high levels of international tourism demand notably the Red Sea, Fayoum and New Valley. These RBOs have been mandated to:

-Supervise all of the promotional events and oversee their implementation; and -Follow up the implementation of ETA recommendations.

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Governorates with a large tourism offering also have their own Departments of Tourism Promotion (DTP) which are under supervision of the Governors. Their roles include:

-Licensing tourism activities in the Governorates;

-Organising regular meetings between the Governor and representatives of the MOT to mitigate the problems in tourism activities; and

-Organising events to promote their Governorate tourism (Governorate 2013). Consequently, there is duplication and conflict between RBO and DTP functions. Some think it would be better to merge both in one unit, under the supervision of the Governors, to reduce centralisation and speed up decision-making, thereby helping to motivate the private sector to invest (EC-5). Moreover, these new units could establish local tourism information offices, and promote domestic tourism, enabling the ETA to focus on its core international marketing role (EC-6).

Tourism Development Authority (TDA) was established in 1991 and mandated as being responsible for:

-Development planning of tourism regions; -Implementing infrastructure in tourism regions;

-Allocating land within the tourism zones, including selling, leasing and granting rights of use;

-Supervising the execution of development plans;

-Promoting private sector involvement in tourism investment opportunities; -Increasing the coordination between authorities such as the Ministry of Petrol,

Ministry of Military and the environmental authorities, to avoid the conflicts between their plans; and

-Setting guidelines for construction and running the tourism activities.

Unfortunately, there have been deficiencies in the way the TDA has exercised its responsibilities. These include: i) selling tourism development areas for $1 per m2 to speed up construction; ii) becoming involved in other activities on behalf of the MOT, including preparing tourism development plans for land located only in its jurisdiction, while leaving the other touristic areas to Governorates that have no ability or experience (EC-20); and iii) being unclear about the responsibility for monitoring

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and improving the quality of the tourism products. These responsibilities fall between the MOT, the TDA, Governorates, municipalities and other ministries and agencies.

In order to mitigate these issues, the TDA and its RBOs should plan all tourism activities with the involvement all of the relevant stakeholders. The Governorates should be mandated for monitoring the implementation of and running the tourism activities (TDA et al. 2009).

Turning towards the Egyptian government’s environmental agencies, these include: The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA)24

was mandated, according to the Environmental Law 4/1994, as being responsible for protecting and promoting the environment. Its primary role is the implementation of national environmental plans by coordinating activities with competent administrative authorities (EEAA 2013). According to the organisational structure of the EEAA, there are two important departments that should be involved in development planning for ecotourism:

-The Nature Protection Department, which is concerned with the maintenance and promotion of protected areas; and

-The Environmental Management Department, which is concerned with environmental assessment for tourism development before, during and after implementation, to ensure the integrity of the environment assets is maintained.

The EEAA has adopted a decentralisation strategy for environmental management by establishing eight Regional Branch Offices (RBOs), one in each economic region25 and two in the Delta, because it is such a huge region. Each RBO is authorised to practise the powers and authority of the EEAA.

The RBOs are mandated by Ministerial Decree No. 56 (2000) to:

24 _{This research focuses on the EEAA only for the environmental institutions because it is seen as the main}

agency that should be involved in ecotourism development.

25 _{Egypt was divided into seven economic regions, namely, Greater Cairo, Alexandria, Suez Canal, Delta,}

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-Prepare environmental status studies for each Governorate, and provide the central EEAA with the information that is considered the necessary basis for the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) (Ibrahim 2010);

- Ensure the implementation of environmental law and executive regulations, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, particularly civil society (Hegazy 2010); and

-Raise environmental awareness, at Governorate and local levels, including the activities of coordinating with the regional universities and research centres (EEAA 2013).

In addition, each Governorate also its own Environmental Management Unit (EMU) which is responsible for:

-Following up the implementation of environmental regulations at a local level;

-Preparing environmental status studies for each Governorate and providing the central EEAA with information that can be considered necessary for the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) (the same function as the EEAA RBOs);

-Participating with the EEAA in examining EIA studies and following up the implementation of any environmental conditions.

Consequently, EMUs administratively follow the governor, and thus are under the supervision of the local development minister. The affiliation of RBOs and EMUs to different Ministries has led to a weakening of their communication and integration. This has resulted in confusion and duplication in the environmental projects and confusion as to which agency is responsible for following up the environmental situation. Thus, the RBOs and EMUs could be merged into one unit under the supervision of a governor. This would reduce centralisation and remove duplication of tasks and make it clear who is responsible for the implementation of the environmental regulations (PS-10).

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Table (4-4) The deficiency in governmental institutions’ responsibilities and recommendations for activating them

Deficiency in responsibilities Recommendation for activation

SC

T

Repeated failure to become fully operable and effective in its roles

SCT can be activated by establishing a Project Panel Committee that includes all the

stakeholders and key experts to coordinate between the different Ministries and authorities for each project

MOT

Duplication and conflict, in the

responsibility for planning, protecting and improving the integrity of the tourism products, with the TDA, Governorates, municipalities and other Ministries.

- MOT should focus on policy, strategy and monitoring, leaving implementation to its agencies

- Better control of its agencies could be achieved by setting targets and monitoring performance

ETA

Duplication and conflict in functions and roles between RBOs and DTP functions.

- Merge both in one unit, under supervision of the Governors, to reduce centralisation and speed up the decision-making.

- These new units could establish local tourism information offices for promotion of domestic tourism, and enable the ETA to focus on the core international marketing role.

TD

A

- TDA focused on selling tourism

development areas for $1 per m2 to speed up their construction;

- It is involved in other activities on behalf of the MOT, including preparing tourism development plans for land located only in its jurisdiction, while leaving the other touristic areas to Governorates that have no ability or experience;

- Unclear responsibility for monitoring and improving the quality of the tourism

products, which falls between the MOT, the TDA, Governorates, municipalities and other Ministries.

- The TDA and its RBOs should be only responsible for planning all areas of tourism through involvement of the relevant

stakeholder(s)

- The Governorates should be mandated for monitoring the implementation of and running the tourism activities

EE

A

A

Duplication and conflict in functions and roles between RBOs and EMUs.

Merge both in one unit under supervision of the Governors in order to reduce the centralisation and remove duplication of tasks and make it clear who is responsible for the implementation of the environmental regulations.

Source: The author

Synthesis

Egypt has two main groups of governmental institutions that are concerned with ecotourism development. The first group, tourism organisations, encompasses the SCT and the MOT with its two arms (ETA and TDA). The second group is the EEAA, the executive arm of the MSEA. Unfortunately, there is conflict between them

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and they duplicate functions. For example, the TDA and the EEAA26 have shared responsibility for examining Environmental impact assessment statement for tourism projects with the Governorates. This has led to investors exploiting the unclear responsibility in order to evade regulations (this point will be further developed in Chapter Six). The research has proposed some recommendations for dealing with these concerns based on interviewees with various experts (see Table 4-4).