The development of British tourism in Egypt, 1815 to 1850

Abstract

Tourism is one of Egypt's leading industries, yet there is no general historical narrative on how tourism developed in Egypt even though Egypt was one of the first locations tourism expanded to outside Europe. While the nature or experience of tourism has been well covered by anthropologists and social scientists, histories of tourism are rare. This paper will provide a basic history of the development of tourism in Egypt from 1815 through 1850 and argues that Muhammad Ali's early welcome of European travellers in his attempt to develop and expand his power in Egypt provided the basis for the development of tourism. Further, Britain's informal Mediterranean Empire after the Napoleonic Wars provided an umbrella of protection for British travellers to Egypt. The overland route to India also sent large numbers of Britons through Egypt, each with time for tourism before travelling to India. Nevertheless, tourism has its own structures which once established provided their own, mainly economic, mechanisms for continuity separate from imperial power. From this historical narrative, it can be seen that tourism was established in Egypt well before the building of the Suez Canal and the first Thomas Cook tours in the 1860s, a more commonly held view.