Heritage Tourism and COVID-19: Turning the Crisis into Opportunity within the Egyptian Context

Abstract

Purpose: This chapter is exploring opportunities out of the coronavirus crisis and investigating how to turn the crisis into a stepping stone for enhancing heritage tourism in Egypt.

Design: A qualitative approach is adopted and thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders about cultural heritage activities before, during, and after COVID-19.

Findings: Main findings of the chapter are divided into management-related (cultural sites carrying capacity, interpretation of cultural heritage attractions, site accessibility, hygiene, and safety) and marketing-related (the limited number of exhibited destinations, using technology and promoting heritage tourism locally) challenges.

Research Limitations/Implications: This study is limited to the Egyptian context. Future research could investigate the challenges and opportunities for heritage tourism in more developed countries. Besides, the use of qualitative methods can be altered to surveys in future research to enrich the body of knowledge in this area.

Practical Implications: The study is suggesting practical steps to tourism authorities related to management and marketing aspects of heritage tourism.

Originality/Value: This study is based on original research that produces new knowledge by using the study approach in collecting data, reports and interprets the findings and discusses possible implications.

Citation

Elgammal, I. and Refaat, H. (2021), "Heritage Tourism and COVID-19: Turning the Crisis into Opportunity within the Egyptian Context", Gowreesunkar, V.G., Maingi, S.W., Roy, H. and Micera, R. (Ed.) Tourism Destination Management in a Post-Pandemic Context (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 37-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-511-020211003