Nature-based tourism includes a full range of outdoor activities. In particular, the Red Sea offers ecological cruise and other adventures. Special tours to sites with interesting seascapes and landscapes are also offered by a range of diving and resort operators. The marine environment allows tourists to appreciate the coral reef and its associated fish and other fauna through scuba diving and snorkelling. The Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), an association of owners of resorts, hotels, dive shops and other tourism establishments in Hurghada, estimate that each week, more than 700 boats cruise the Red Sea, between Hurghada and the coral reef areas, located within an hour from Hurghada. An average of 20 percent of the total visitors in Hurgada in 2000–2001 (estimated at 551,204) visited Giftums and Far Islands for diving, snorkelling, and ecological cruising and sightseeing. The tourists visited the area mainly for relaxation (Hegazy, 2002).
Four species (the green, loggerhead, hawksbill and leatherback) of marine turtles nest along the Red Sea Coast. Divers frequently see these turtles foraging on reefs and sea grass beds. But most of the nature-based tourists were found to prefer cruising the Red Sea for adventure and sightseeing. The crystal blue waters and the fascinating landscape of the Red Sea Coast include sea grass meadows, mangroves, white sand beaches and shallow flat reefs. The seascape and landscape include the open-water lagoon, tidal flats, mangroves, tidal channel façade, islets and islands. The fringing coastal landscape is dominated by fossil reefs in terraces and represents successive rising and falling sea levels (Lacovara et al. 2001).
There are 25 protected islands in the Red Sea as listed in the Prime Minister’s Decree No. 642 /1995. The Red Sea is an internationally significant migratory route of millions of birds who pass through Egypt to escape the European autumn and winter, rest and roost in the mud flats, tidal flats, islets, mangroves and shallow reef and islands along the Red Sea. Many of the Red Sea’s islands are of global significance because they are the habitats of the endemic white-eyed gull. It is estimated that 30 percent of the world population of this bird breed on the islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Suez connecting the Red Sea. The islands of Tiran, Ashrafi, North Quisum, Tawila and Zabangad are among the most important breeding habitats for sea birds. Among the important Red Sea coastal birds that tourists often see during cruises are osprey, Reef heron, Green-backed heron, Brown booby, White-eyed gull, Hemprich’s gull, Lesser crested tern and Caspian tern (HEPCA, 2001). Thousands of dolphins are sighted at the Dolphin’s Reef, which is one hour by speedboat from the Shagra diving village (Helmy, pers com). Dolphins usually rest and stay in these sites.
The Red Sea is also known for its cultural heritage and historical sites, particularly the Ras Mohammad National Park, where both Christians and Muslims go on a pilgrimage. Moreover, adequate world-class infrastructure and support facilities are available. Added to these are the warm and cordial accommodation of the local people, the active promotion of tourism, the government’s liberal policy on tourism and land ownership and the Red Sea’s strategic location, particularly for European tourists such as those from Italy, France and Germany.
The mangroves along the Red Sea in Egypt, including those along the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, are a remarkable sight. The view of the desert, particularly along the central and northern parts of the Red Sea is desolate, dry and generally barren and the mangroves provide a welcome scenic landscape. In Nabq, Shalateen and Halaib, mangroves noticeably thrive vigorously at the mouths of wadis (seasonal riverbeds), where there are suitable sediments and sources of freshwater, in which mangrove stands thrive. Although the wadis appear dry, except during occasional rainstorms, the freshwater from flash floods and groundwater allow the Avicennia marina stands to grow in a high-saline substrate frequently inundated by seawater. From the southern part of Shalateen to Halaib, Rhizophora mucronata thrive well in contiguous blocks.
This indicates that the area has sufficient supply of freshwater from rainfall and groundwater. As reported by the key informant, rainfall occurs more often in the southernmost part than in the central part of the Red Sea (Galal, pers com, 2002).
Mangroves in Abu Monkar and Geisum Islands provide some greenery in areas where no other vegetation thrives. Italian, Russian and German tourists are common visitors to the area. In Ras Mohammad National Park, the mangroves are a regular ecological destination for tourists who access the park by land. Nature-oriented tourists are awed by the mangrove survival in the midst of the desert, in the crevices created by a narrow fault line connected to the sea.
In Al Rowaisseya and El-Garghana, the mangroves and the integral immediate environment are the focal destinations of tourists inside the Nabq Multiple-Management Protected Area. Mangroves in Ras Mohammad and Al Rowaisseya are fenced or lined with nylon ropes to limit the access of tourists and to guide them to other places of attraction such as the shipwreck in Al Rowaisseya. The Manager of the Nabq Protectorate estimated that almost 90 percent of the visitors to the Nabq ecotourism area consider Al Rowaisseya as their final and focal destination after watching the landscape and scenery of the wadis, tamarix and the desert along the winding and bumpy tracks inside the protected area.
Based on the records of the Income Department of the South Sinai Protectorate, the number of foreign tourists who visited the Nabq Protected Area amounted to 15,750 and 19,800 in 1997/98 and 2000/01, respectively. The mangrove area in Al Rowaisseya was the primary ecological destination of the tourists. Visitors to Nabq are expected to increase further once the construction of 28 hotels is completed within the next five years. Most of these hotels will be located about 5 km from the gate of the Nabq Protected Area. Galal (2002) estimated that at least an additional 20,000 tourists will be coming to Sharm El Sheik once the 28 hotels are fully operational.
There is an increasing demand for ecotourism throughout the world. The Red Sea has the necessary infrastructure and facilities to capture the potential market in ecotourism. It has the internationally well-known and protected coral reef and near-shore shallow areas for scuba diving and snorkelling. However, the facilities in Nabq need to be improved. The increase in the number of visitors must also be monitored in terms of the absorption capacity or limit of acceptable change (LAC) at the site, particularly in the mangrove areas if they are to be used as a focus of ecotourism development.
Mangroves are part of the coastal habitat “mosaic”, which occurs in patches along the coast of Egypt. They are key components of the coastal ecosystem, which filter and block sediments from the unstable substrates of the wadi and the desert (particularly during occasional rainstorms) and prevent the siltation of sea grass beds and coral reefs.
Although the mangroves are only a small part of the total ecological tourist attraction of the Red Sea, there are resort and hotel operators that promote these as an important focus of ecotourism. In Sharm El-Quebly, one resort operator identified and plans to construct a boardwalk into and around the mangrove areas. The Sheraton Miramar Resort in El Gouna protects the mangrove islet facing the seacoast entrance of the resort, which serves as a green buffer to shield the coastline facilities of the resort. The Mangrove Bay Hotel, located 30 km south of Quseir, was named as such because of the existing mangrove stand adjacent to its resort in Sharm El Bahari. The mangrove stand in front of the White Villas in El Gouna promotes mangroves as a natural ambience that enhances and accentuates the scenery of the Red Sea Coast.
However, the ecological importance of the mangrove stands adjacent to the El Gouna (White Villas and the Sheraton Miramar) and the Marsa Shagra (Shagra diving village) are at times, not fully understood by the resort and hotel operators. The Mangrove Bay Resort staff for example periodically spray insecticides on the mangrove stand to eradicate mosquitoes (Gad, M, Personal Communication, 19 August 2002).
The 14 mangrove bushes of Avicennia marina described by Saenger (2002) are threatened by extinction because of compaction (as part of the football or soccer field and the cut-off of the supply of freshwater and saline water. The mangrove stand in the islet fronting the Sheraton Miramar Resort physically manifests stress conditions although the hotel manager vouches of its protection. Regeneration is wanting and empty spaces cut off the continuous distribution of Avicennia marina in the islet. This was obviously a result of the alteration of the islet’s natural landform. The concrete ripraps along the resort’s façade show erosion of the bank, probably induced by the splash of seawater on the unstable bank, which is perhaps a result of dredging and the force of currents or waves created by passing speedboats. The altered land use of the islet manifests the lack of understanding of the biophysical and hydrological dynamics of mangrove ecosystem, thus affecting the growth of the Avicennia stand and stability of the islet.
The mangroves’ uniqueness as part of the mosaic of coastal habitats and their significant ecological functions as links between and among the desert and the wadi terrestrial ecosystem and the marine ecosystem should be fully understood to awaken the interest and appreciation of the operators and tourists.
People are fascinated by or attracted to the mangrove stands in the middle of barren deserts. They protect these because of existing laws protecting the mangroves but they lack understanding of the dynamics of mangroves as a crucial link to the terrestrial and marine ecosystems. It is not enough that the general public is aware of the physical presence of mangroves to motivate them to value the mangroves highly. There is a need to translate the ecological value of mangroves into monetary terms. Thus, effective social marketing should be designed and undertaken instead of merely producing information and education campaign materials. There is a need to motivate people into action, especially those in the ecotourism industry and local inhabitants to participate actively in the rehabilitation, conservation and management of mangroves and the immediate coastal ecosystem.
