By Ziad Bahaa Eldin
We Egyptians always think of our cultural heritage as a major asset, an advantage that few other countries enjoy on our scale, and a potential source of tourism and wealth that remains largely untapped.
Well guess what - the bad news is that nothing comes for free, and that the sheer number, scale and diversity of our cultural heritage sites requires a lot of resources to simply maintain and preserve, let alone open to tourists. And with the continuously rising prices of building material, and skilled labor, specialized conservation has become an extremely expensive proposition. Now if you imagine multiplying that cost by literally thousands of times - if we are to preserve, restore and open all our cultural heritage for display - the inevitable conclusion will be that our cultural heritage sites may be an unmatched asset from one angle, but a huge liability from another - and one which cannot be borne by the state alone.
The good news is that there is a way forward, and it is not so much “out of the box”, in fact it is the most logical and straightforward idea. - Yes, it is, once more, private sector investment. I am not talking here about selling cultural heritage sites, nor privatizing assets. I’m talking about simply allowing specialized private investment to employ its resources, innovation, entrepreneurship and market skills to turning heritage sites into income and labor generating opportunities, all while availing the resources needed to restore, preserve, and maintain for posterity the heritage sites that are currently at risk.
“Adaptive use” is the term used to describe the commercial, legal, and regulatory set-up which permits a private investor to be granted the right to take hold of a heritage site, restore it, upgrade it, maintain it, and use it in a manner that is commercially viable, while remaining respectful of the architectural and historical integrity of the site. Whether such use is for a boutique hotel, exhibition hall, shops and outlets, music concerts, or corporate events, there is a “sweet spot” where investment and preservation become complimentary and not contradictory. This is not a new idea; in fact, it has been extensively applied in Morocco, Spain, Turkey, Greece, and elsewhere with resounding success to the growth of tourism, the creation of employment opportunities, and of course the preservation of heritage.
One such pilot project was introduced in Egypt over the last few years, funded by USAID, implemented by FHI360 and a consortium of local partners, and supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities – the Integrated Management of Cultural Tourism (IMCT) Project. It launched an experimental modality for cultural heritage adaptive use in eight sites around Historic Cairo and Luxor. Alongside site restoration efforts, the project’s vision was essentially to design an integrated model for cultural tourism in Egypt – leveraging historic assets, active local communities and existing demand from both public and private sectors to create an enhanced tourist experience.
I had the pleasure of being involved in the IMCT project for more than a year. My role entailed proposing legal and regulatory frameworks, building on existing legal and regulatory frameworks, to ensure they are conducive to private sector engagement. Proposed reforms aimed to contribute to the establishment of a pilot model for integration, including preserving heritage assets, actively engaging the private sector, empowering local communities, and creating an enhanced tourist experience.
The key findings and proposals made were the following:
- Enhance and modernize the contractual modalities used to grant private sector investors the rights to preserve and commercialize the eligible heritage sites,
- Grant the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities the rights to supervise and upgrade the neighborhoods adjacent to the sites,
- Create a new funding mechanism that can support maintenance and renovation costs where international and local donors alike can direct some of their resources,
- Empower the growth of NGOs that are able to bring about resources and efforts in promoting the heritage sites, and
- Encourage the involvement of local communities in the preservation efforts as well as subsequent commercial and touristic activities, making them beneficiaries and stakeholders in their success.
And now that that project has come to a successful conclusion, I have to say that my biggest and most pleasant surprise was the amount of goodwill I have seen by all parties involved: private sector investors willing to risk their money and time for this noble cause, NGOs keen on preserving and showcasing our unique cultural heritage, and most importantly senior officials of the Supreme Council of Antiquities who are as adamant as ever to protect the heritage sites but also conscious of the financial resources needed to achieve this goal and willing to contemplate new ideas and innovative approaches as long as they do not compromise the integrity of the sites.
This was the beginning of a long but potentially very rewarding exercise, one which could avail the resources needed for preservation, create new job opportunities, open up closed sites, increase tourism, and, above all, turn potential liabilities into magnificent assets that would bring our heritage to the forefront. IMCT efforts have set the foundation for potentially engaging partnership opportunities, presenting mutually beneficial value-added for both the public and private sector with more to be done moving forward.