Egypt: Resort town hides the 'real' Egyptian experience
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
EL GOUNA, EGYPT 鈥� It is a resort town by all definitions. Hotels line every street, catering to a foreign tourist base that has grown in the decade and a half since El Gouna鈥檚 first developments began to spring up. Egyptians make up a tiny percentage of the population, their modest homes hidden from view by stone walls.
Europeans come in droves to vacation here, to soak up the hot sun and 鈥渆xperience鈥� Egypt. But many stay within the resort town, mingling with other tourists in upscale restaurants and watching 鈥渃ultural鈥� shows that do little to connect them to the country they are visiting.
The true Egypt, impoverished and full of diverse splendor, has been swept clean from the cobblestone roads and expensive cafes and hotels inside Gouna.
It鈥檚 not just the tourists who don鈥檛 get exposure to the 鈥渞eal鈥� Egypt. Lars Keller is German and has worked in El Gouna for the past three years. He鈥檚 not a fan of the resort town lifestyle, which he says has given him little opportunity to interact with locals.
鈥淚t has really gotten to be too much, and I am ready to leave,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 never got to experience Egypt.鈥�
With little vacation time available, Mr. Keller was only able to leave El Gouna on a handful of occasions. 鈥淚t simply wasn鈥檛 enough to get any knowledge of the country I lived in for three years. And to think others come here and think they have been to Egypt.鈥�
