Challenges Facing Coptic Heritage Tourism in Egypt A Case Study On: Wadifeiran Region

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Tourism Studies, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Despite the fact that Egypt owns a huge fortune of Coptic heritage sites (i.e. The Monastery of Saint Anthony, El Bagawat Necropolis, the Red Monastery and the White Monastery, etc.), heritage tourism in Egypt is known only by Pharaonic monuments. Accordingly, it is necessary to focus on the Egyptian Coptic heritage. The current paper aims at shedding light on the importance of the Egyptian Coptic heritage as a main component of the Egyptian heritage tourism as well as exploring the different challenges facing Coptic heritage in Wadi Feiran Region. Within this context, interviews were conducted with key representatives of Coptic heritage experts. It was concluded that different challenges are facing Coptic heritage in Egypt such as: there is no department of Coptology in the Egyptian universities; Coptic conservators are quite rare in Egypt; Mismanagement of Coptic heritage sites endanger them as well as Lack of security measures worsened the situation.

Keywords