now tourism is dead!
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Diving instructors were not complaining that they suddenly had to legalize their livelihood, they were complaining about the way it was done. Transient staff such as diving instructors, animation teams, whatever, whilst not being entitled to work in the strict legal sense of the word, were entitled to work because their services were necessary - and most of them didn't stay very long, so it was "overlooked", although don't forget that all of these workers would have been documented and on record as employees of dive centres, so it's not like there was some secret hushed up back door diving instructor racket going on.
One of the most lucrative assets to the tourist industry outside of Cairo would be the resort of Sharm El Sheikh, and do not forget that Sharm was founded almost entirely by the dive industry. From the first recreational pioneers of the 1970s, to the formation of serious dive clubs in the early 1980s, until up to 10 years ago, Sharm was still 90% divers and 10% holiday people. Now it's more than reversed. And the most lucrative asset to Sharm these days is the all inclusive package tourist.
And that changed the situation for dive instructors. Why? Because now it was easy to get work in Sharm - the expansion of the dive industry meant that more and more instructors speaking more and more languages were required and that meant that the strict application of the work permit was increasingly overlooked.
And then maybe the dive industry became too big for its boots. Everybody was trying to cash in business and that led to people having other ideas such as the ever increasing number of glass bottomed boats and snorkel tours - "hey it's cheaper than diving and you will definitely see some fish!" And that, along with the massive growth in Sharm over the last 10 years, brought a mass influx of second-rate staff - both foreign and national, whether diving or not, and regulations were needed.
By then a lot of people were established in Sharm, most of whom already had work permits through official channels because that made life easier in the long run. Some of the female instructors had married Egyptian nationals, some long term residents of the dive business own property and have investments here, all with due legal process, but most were just looking to do something they love, earning not very much money for doing so, which was mostly (and still is), re-invested in Al-Ahram breweries.
Imagine, if you will, an analogy: I am officially a resident of planet Crowley, but since I was born in England, I am an Englishman who lives and works in Sharm because I love to dive here and I love to work here and from time to time I love living here also. I don't earn a lot of money to do it, but every day I get to take divers through a singularly Egyptian wonderland. I wonder how many Egyptians would travel to the UK to show Arabic-speaking tourists the wonders of the very, very beautiful Lake District, or the remote Highlands of Scotland. Sounds silly but that's what the dive industry gave to Egpyt - Sharm El Sheikh, a previously unknown part of a remote sandstone desert/sea interface about 700km from the nearest civilized lavatory.
And now some people, it seems, want to do everything in their power to remove us from Egypt, because now we are taking jobs from Egyptian nationals, apparently. I've only been working here for 2 1/2 years but I do remember the Sharm of 11 years ago and it was a very different place back then.
Foreign instructors weren't angry about having to legalize their situation, in fact it doesn't make me angry at all, it was a long winded but relatively painless process, even the blood test, and worth every piastre. What annoys us is the fact that we are actively vilified for doing what we do. That unless we comply with regulations, we are criminals taking jobs from Egyptians. This is simply not the case.
I understand why a country would wish to regulate more closely their influx of foreign workers, and as always I know that there are bigger things going on in Egypt right now than the needs of foreign dive instructors, there's just no need to get heavy-handed about it, that's all. We all supported the revolution and we all wanted a peaceful outcome, and for a couple of weeks, that's what we got! Now it's borderline chaos and everybody is having a little mini-revolution of their own. It has, in a number of ways, significantly affected our lives here. especially when it comes to renting apartments....
We're not trying to import "western" values into the country, not the staff, not the tourists. I can buy a Big Mac in Cairo or Sharm or London or Tokyo or Brisbane or Pattaya or Paris or Dubai or Moscow or Delhi, so what exactly are these "western values" that have so readily been accepted throughout the world? Is it like having a Chinatown in London or L.A.? Or a Muslim temple near the site of the world trade centre bombings?
The world is too small a place these days. Whether people come to Egypt to work or to just have a quick look at the pyramids, there is little chance that this could be to the detriment of the Egyptian people as a whole.
Live and let dive,
C.
One of the most lucrative assets to the tourist industry outside of Cairo would be the resort of Sharm El Sheikh, and do not forget that Sharm was founded almost entirely by the dive industry. From the first recreational pioneers of the 1970s, to the formation of serious dive clubs in the early 1980s, until up to 10 years ago, Sharm was still 90% divers and 10% holiday people. Now it's more than reversed. And the most lucrative asset to Sharm these days is the all inclusive package tourist.
And that changed the situation for dive instructors. Why? Because now it was easy to get work in Sharm - the expansion of the dive industry meant that more and more instructors speaking more and more languages were required and that meant that the strict application of the work permit was increasingly overlooked.
And then maybe the dive industry became too big for its boots. Everybody was trying to cash in business and that led to people having other ideas such as the ever increasing number of glass bottomed boats and snorkel tours - "hey it's cheaper than diving and you will definitely see some fish!" And that, along with the massive growth in Sharm over the last 10 years, brought a mass influx of second-rate staff - both foreign and national, whether diving or not, and regulations were needed.
By then a lot of people were established in Sharm, most of whom already had work permits through official channels because that made life easier in the long run. Some of the female instructors had married Egyptian nationals, some long term residents of the dive business own property and have investments here, all with due legal process, but most were just looking to do something they love, earning not very much money for doing so, which was mostly (and still is), re-invested in Al-Ahram breweries.
Imagine, if you will, an analogy: I am officially a resident of planet Crowley, but since I was born in England, I am an Englishman who lives and works in Sharm because I love to dive here and I love to work here and from time to time I love living here also. I don't earn a lot of money to do it, but every day I get to take divers through a singularly Egyptian wonderland. I wonder how many Egyptians would travel to the UK to show Arabic-speaking tourists the wonders of the very, very beautiful Lake District, or the remote Highlands of Scotland. Sounds silly but that's what the dive industry gave to Egpyt - Sharm El Sheikh, a previously unknown part of a remote sandstone desert/sea interface about 700km from the nearest civilized lavatory.
And now some people, it seems, want to do everything in their power to remove us from Egypt, because now we are taking jobs from Egyptian nationals, apparently. I've only been working here for 2 1/2 years but I do remember the Sharm of 11 years ago and it was a very different place back then.
Foreign instructors weren't angry about having to legalize their situation, in fact it doesn't make me angry at all, it was a long winded but relatively painless process, even the blood test, and worth every piastre. What annoys us is the fact that we are actively vilified for doing what we do. That unless we comply with regulations, we are criminals taking jobs from Egyptians. This is simply not the case.
I understand why a country would wish to regulate more closely their influx of foreign workers, and as always I know that there are bigger things going on in Egypt right now than the needs of foreign dive instructors, there's just no need to get heavy-handed about it, that's all. We all supported the revolution and we all wanted a peaceful outcome, and for a couple of weeks, that's what we got! Now it's borderline chaos and everybody is having a little mini-revolution of their own. It has, in a number of ways, significantly affected our lives here. especially when it comes to renting apartments....
We're not trying to import "western" values into the country, not the staff, not the tourists. I can buy a Big Mac in Cairo or Sharm or London or Tokyo or Brisbane or Pattaya or Paris or Dubai or Moscow or Delhi, so what exactly are these "western values" that have so readily been accepted throughout the world? Is it like having a Chinatown in London or L.A.? Or a Muslim temple near the site of the world trade centre bombings?
The world is too small a place these days. Whether people come to Egypt to work or to just have a quick look at the pyramids, there is little chance that this could be to the detriment of the Egyptian people as a whole.
Live and let dive,
C.
Crowley, I was giving an example and when that decision was taken (legalize the situation for foreign staff) I liked the idea but I had many thoughts about how it was being done. In my post here I was not debating that, I was just giving an example.
I just want to thank you for your politeness and discussing things objectively
I just want to thank you for your politeness and discussing things objectively
gregorio
Contributor
I have since heard that this is all just a rumour... who knows for sure.
I also took it to mean that travelling in groups meant package deals with both hotel and flight included.
As Crowley says, I am sure that if they do implement this, it is definitely aimed at preventing people simply popping up the coast to buy a residents' visa and then going out to work. However it does also hamper those who travel independently, those who book hotel and flights separately and those who have invested their life's savings into property over here either in order to stay and live, or as a holiday home. There should be some kind of dispensation for them surely... seeing as they have handed a fair wedge of cash over to the country.
I just hope that it is indeed another random rumour.
I also took it to mean that travelling in groups meant package deals with both hotel and flight included.
As Crowley says, I am sure that if they do implement this, it is definitely aimed at preventing people simply popping up the coast to buy a residents' visa and then going out to work. However it does also hamper those who travel independently, those who book hotel and flights separately and those who have invested their life's savings into property over here either in order to stay and live, or as a holiday home. There should be some kind of dispensation for them surely... seeing as they have handed a fair wedge of cash over to the country.
I just hope that it is indeed another random rumour.
Hi Solly
Thanks for your reply - and for the record, I vastly prefer living here, with all its associated problems, than trying to eke out an existence in the UK which, like most of the "western" world is so deeply mired in the application of rules and regulations that they have lost sight of what the people who have to live under those regulations actually need. It's partly what drove me out of the UK in the first place.
There has to be balance, although equality is an entirely separate concept, and although the gulf between freedom and anarchy is very deep, it's not actually very wide. Freedom from tyranny does not mean freedom from responsibility, and at the moment certain political, religious and ideological ideals are being exercised with little thought for the overall good of the country. Some people want the foreigners out, some people wish for sharia law to be implemented nationwide, some people wish for there to be a McDonald's on every street corner, but all of these people are looking at only what is best for themselves, and what they believe is correct, not what is actually best for the people - and one could apply that to many different countries.
What is best for the people of Egypt, given that millions of nationals earn their living from tourism - and I am not just talking dive instructors here but bus drivers, sales reps, tour reps, waiters, bell boys, cleaners, taxi drivers, camel owners, tank fillers, equipment technicians, taxi repair people, tourist police, market stall owners, the guy who waves the red baton to stop cars from crushing tourists as they cross the road, the guy who collects departure tickets at Travco, the boat captains, the fishermen, the Bedouin, the Tour guides in Cairo and Luxor, the construction workers and the garbage collectors.... they all have a job because of tourism, just like many people in Orlando, Florida, or Tokyo, or Paris, or LA, or wherever, are all connected with Disneyland.
And removing foreign tourism will immediately end the livelihoods of what must amount to several million people overall, who collectively help to bring 10 or more billion dollars to the country, in a world in which the holy trinity of money, power, and the ghost of well-meaning intent reign supreme. Much as I would love my little corner of the universe to be perfect, it isn't, and unfortunately we live in an imperfect world so therefore some compromise is necessary.
I'm very glad to see the visa restrictions lifted, if in fact they were ever seriously imposed in the first place, because of course it impacts my life directly and much as I don't want to, I can move on if I have to. Most Egyptians can't. Without the continued support of Egyptian Nationals, many of whom earn far less than I do but are supporting their families on the wages they earn in Sharm because it's better than the alternatives, we - as in the foreign staff - could not exist here. It's mutual symbiosis; both parties benefit - as opposed to parasitism, where one party takes something to the detriment of the host.
This has a daily impact on our lives here, and therefore the varying political climate is something that is uppermost in everybody's minds, even if we don't quite know how to deal with it - but serious stupidity tends to stick out as seriously stupid, and understanding of local cultural variations does not really matter because job = work = money = food on table for wife and three kids back home, just like it is in any country where you have to have a job in order to earn enough money to pay for the grocery bills that will allow your family to continue to eat until the next time you get paid.
Unless, of course, your entire source of income is removed because somebody fell out of the wrong side of bed one morning. I keep blabbing about Sharm because, of course, it's where I work, but Sharm alone employs thousands of Egyptians and if you add all the other resorts, never mind Cairo and Luxor, then actually, the 10-ish billion dollar figure placed on the income generated by tourism is a little bit irrelevant. What really matters is that hundreds of thousands of people will be able to put food on the table for their families (and my cat) because foreign people like to visit this most amazing country.
Cheers and Sakaras
Crowley
Thanks for your reply - and for the record, I vastly prefer living here, with all its associated problems, than trying to eke out an existence in the UK which, like most of the "western" world is so deeply mired in the application of rules and regulations that they have lost sight of what the people who have to live under those regulations actually need. It's partly what drove me out of the UK in the first place.
There has to be balance, although equality is an entirely separate concept, and although the gulf between freedom and anarchy is very deep, it's not actually very wide. Freedom from tyranny does not mean freedom from responsibility, and at the moment certain political, religious and ideological ideals are being exercised with little thought for the overall good of the country. Some people want the foreigners out, some people wish for sharia law to be implemented nationwide, some people wish for there to be a McDonald's on every street corner, but all of these people are looking at only what is best for themselves, and what they believe is correct, not what is actually best for the people - and one could apply that to many different countries.
What is best for the people of Egypt, given that millions of nationals earn their living from tourism - and I am not just talking dive instructors here but bus drivers, sales reps, tour reps, waiters, bell boys, cleaners, taxi drivers, camel owners, tank fillers, equipment technicians, taxi repair people, tourist police, market stall owners, the guy who waves the red baton to stop cars from crushing tourists as they cross the road, the guy who collects departure tickets at Travco, the boat captains, the fishermen, the Bedouin, the Tour guides in Cairo and Luxor, the construction workers and the garbage collectors.... they all have a job because of tourism, just like many people in Orlando, Florida, or Tokyo, or Paris, or LA, or wherever, are all connected with Disneyland.
And removing foreign tourism will immediately end the livelihoods of what must amount to several million people overall, who collectively help to bring 10 or more billion dollars to the country, in a world in which the holy trinity of money, power, and the ghost of well-meaning intent reign supreme. Much as I would love my little corner of the universe to be perfect, it isn't, and unfortunately we live in an imperfect world so therefore some compromise is necessary.
I'm very glad to see the visa restrictions lifted, if in fact they were ever seriously imposed in the first place, because of course it impacts my life directly and much as I don't want to, I can move on if I have to. Most Egyptians can't. Without the continued support of Egyptian Nationals, many of whom earn far less than I do but are supporting their families on the wages they earn in Sharm because it's better than the alternatives, we - as in the foreign staff - could not exist here. It's mutual symbiosis; both parties benefit - as opposed to parasitism, where one party takes something to the detriment of the host.
This has a daily impact on our lives here, and therefore the varying political climate is something that is uppermost in everybody's minds, even if we don't quite know how to deal with it - but serious stupidity tends to stick out as seriously stupid, and understanding of local cultural variations does not really matter because job = work = money = food on table for wife and three kids back home, just like it is in any country where you have to have a job in order to earn enough money to pay for the grocery bills that will allow your family to continue to eat until the next time you get paid.
Unless, of course, your entire source of income is removed because somebody fell out of the wrong side of bed one morning. I keep blabbing about Sharm because, of course, it's where I work, but Sharm alone employs thousands of Egyptians and if you add all the other resorts, never mind Cairo and Luxor, then actually, the 10-ish billion dollar figure placed on the income generated by tourism is a little bit irrelevant. What really matters is that hundreds of thousands of people will be able to put food on the table for their families (and my cat) because foreign people like to visit this most amazing country.
Cheers and Sakaras
Crowley
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