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Tourism and travel in Ancient Egypt and how to benefit from it to promote tourism in Egypt

by Mohammed Yehia Zakaria Ahmed, a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of M.Sc. in Tourist Guidance, Fayoum University 2012

Mobility was a significant human activity in ancient world. From this perspective, scholars are now have classified mobility to travel and tourism. Moreover, there are various types and purposes of tourism and travel and this was not the same among the early nations consequently changing over time. Travel in ancient Egypt raises many questions that we have yet no accurate answers; therefore, this study aims to investigate these concerns. To answer these questions, analytical and descriptive approaches were selected as the appropriate methodological approaches to conduct the study. This includes analyses of the wall paintings of the tombs and temples which are regarded the pictorial source as well as the textual sources based upon the Egyptian literature and writings.

The thesis concludes that travel was familiar in ancient Egypt since the pre-dynastic times. By applying the contemporary terms and notion of tourism industry, indeed, the ancient Egyptians knew various forms of tourism and travel (T&T) such as domestic and international journeys, leisure, business, and adventure trips.

Managers of Destination Marketing Organization (DMOs) seek for new promotional and marketing tools that could assist them to reach their overall strategic objectives, hence, the study also offers fresh promotional ideas and recommendations to gain additional benefit from this research.
 

Structure of the dissertation
The thesis is divided into nine chapters, shown as follows:  

Chapter 1
This chapter is part of the research that presents the necessary introduction of the research topic. It also introduces a review of the most relevant literature to the thesis and the goals of conducting the research itself. It also includes the main motivations which stimulate the researcher to select the topic of the thesis. In order to reach the goals of the study and to answer the research question, the assumed, appropriate method is illustrated.

Chapter 2
The second chapter of the thesis gives an overview of traveling in ancient Egypt as it is a crucial introduction. It enumerates the most important travels in ancient Egyptian history starting from the pre-dynastic period until the end of the New Kingdom age. These journeys  and trips are highlighted in tourism perspective notion.

The objective of this part is to gather the most sufficient number of journeys which have been done in ancient Egypt, specifically from the pre-dynastic period until the end of the New Kingdom. What will come out of these trips would be detailed answers of the primary question of the first part of the study, did ancient Egyptian know travel. It offers introductive insights into the empirical study of the research. Furthermore, it assists to answer the key research question of the study. The researcher followed the approximated chronology and dates of ancient Egyptian according to Killen (1994: 6).

Chapter 3
This chapter is in regard to an attempt to go beyond the trips, journeys and voyages of the ancient Egyptian history that was described in the second chapter. It goes much deeper into the thesis topic. Thus, it is the first analytical chapter of the thesis. The third chapter of the study is an analytical part which is necessary to have comprehensive images of the whole topic of the research. Thus, it contains travel and tourism synonyms in the ancient Egyptian language as well as complete phrases used in the ancient Egyptian daily life is highlighted and is equivalent to today’s usage. The rich words and synonyms that were found in the ancient Egyptian language attest the topic of the study. This motivated the researcher to look for travel synonyms in ancient Egyptian literature, which is analyzed in the fifth chapter.

Chapter 4
The method of this chapter contains analysis of the key contexts that is previously shown in chapters two and three, and to synthesize its arguments. It addresses analytical framework of those trips, explaining the factors that supported traveling in ancient Egypt, such as the nature of the Egyptian land, location and navigations as well as the preferable destinations within the borders of Egypt and outside. The researcher attempts to enumerate the main roads that have been used while traveling in ancient Egypt, at this chapter. To ensure comprehensive image of these ancient roads and destinations, the researcher struggled to demonstrate them into illustrated maps.

Chapter 5
This chapter assists to analyze the topic of the study through highlight the tales and sources of ancient Egyptian literature. It includes the Pyramid Texts, narratives of Sinuhe, and Shipwrecked Sailors as well as Hateshpsut’s trip to Punt.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, relevant scenes that were painted on the walls of the temples and tombs in Egypt were an endeavor to gather some translation of ancient Egyptian writing that was inscribed in terms of the pharaoh’s travel tales, which were discussed. This was proven by the fact of the historical evolution of ancient Egyptian literary texts. These are the tangible evidences and pictorial data of the study which include the decorative and communicative scenes in graves, temples, and other depictions of Egyptians in statutory and stele. These data provide insights into the Egyptian perspective and attitudes towards traveling in ancient Egypt. It also assisted the researcher to link the given assumed arguments applied to what has been documentarily proven.

Chapter 7
After analyzing the pictorial date of the topic, state the success factors that formed travel in ancient Egypt, is necessary to include within this chapter. Therefore, chapter seven illustrates the role of the ancient Egyptian infrastructure, meant by the marine routes in which the ancient Egyptians chose to travel. The role of the water resources such as the ancient canals of Egypt, Nile River, Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, is also highlighted. This chapter includes the role of climate and the geography of Egypt, as they together form an essential function towards attracting foreigners and to travel overseas.

Chapter 8

To provide comprehensive insights into the success factors of travels in ancient Egypt, this chapter attempts to answer necessary questions that might come in mind. For instance, how the ancient Egyptians traveled, for how long did they go, to which tourist destination did they visit, what sorts of accommodation, transportation, and food and beverages did they have while travelling?
To answer these questions, the components of travel in ancient Egypt were a fundamental part that needs to be enclosed in this chapter, where it contains answers of where travelers were accommodated, what did they eat and drink during their voyages as well as discuss two major means of traveling (by land and water).

Chapter 9
This chapter is the discussion and conclusion which includes the tourist part of the research. It is divided into two main sections. The first one is intended to demonstrate the familiar terms with travel, tourism and their different types. It shows the difference between the two terms ‘tourism’ and ‘travel’ (T&T) according to the recent global tourism organizations, such as (UNWTO). It discusses the current problem of defining the existing global terms between T&T, as well as traveler and tourist. It proves that until the present there are different arguments and there is no agreed definition among the scholars. Thus, this chapter would clarify the confusion of T&T terms and definitions. It shows the differences between T&T, and if we could use them as a combined term or consider them as two separate terms. To ensure the interpretations of our understanding to the topic of the study, the researcher examined the UNWTO definitions as well as Oxford dictionary to find the differences between the other idioms.

Furthermore, this chapter investigates the question whether ancient Egyptian travels can be described as tourism. In this case, the sorts of tourism that Egypt had thousands of years ago would be discussed. Furthermore, the research sheds the light on the similarities that have been found since ancient Egyptian travel and at present.

The research focuses on the second part of this chapter to use its outcomes and findings to offer some objective and innovative ideas given to the Egyptian authorities for promoting the Egyptian destination. These created thoughts are presented in the light of the recent destination marketing literature and presented as the recommendations of the study.

In summary, the structure and the organizational flow of the thesis is illustrated in figure 1.

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