Dream Incubation Tourism: The Resurrection of Ancient Egyptian Heritage of Sleep Temples

Abstract

Ancient Egyptian heritage has been explored over centuries; however, its secrets have not been fully discovered. This study aims to highlight the idea of dream incubation that was used by Ancient Egyptians and explore its applicability under the umbrella of health tourism and special-interest tourism. Such resurrection of Ancient intangible heritage was explored in the Siwa Oasis protected area; located in the western desert of Egypt. Siwa possesses a number of features that may facilitate the application of Dream incubation. Theoretical background will be given, focusing on dream incubation sleep temples in Ancient Egypt. The case of Siwa is then discussed to explore opportunities for dream incubation as a new type of special-interest tourism and health tourism. This was done by using three focus groups with potentially involved stakeholders. The findings suggested a model of Dream Incubation Tourism consisting of four aspects (location, dreamer, incubation rite and stakeholders). The findings also highlighted the challenges that could be faced in taking a step towards this type of the revival of ancient culture heritage and hence a number of recommendations were suggested