ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 116

visit those areas and learn about them. These visitors will transfer an image of a better life, which
may raise the level of the acceptable living standards to the population. Here, we can assume
that rural tourism can be the content of this strategy, without tourism market, these required
customers will not be available to accommodate these products and activities, and to develop
the stereotypical image of the local population. After all, there are no blueprints for sustainable
development, behaviors and trends that may/may not lead to tangible results in the near future
and on the long term.

Rural Sustainability Goals in Egypt
The challenge lies in how rural sustainable development can be translated into principles so
that effective policies can be based on in order to reverse current unsustainable trends of environmental degradation and human oppression (Abo Elfetouh 2006). According to Abo Elfetouh
(2006), there are five major pre-requisites for sustainable rural development:
1. A learning-process approach.
2. People’s priorities first.
3. Secure rights and gains.
4. Sustainability through self-help.
5. Staff calibre, commitment and continuity.
Tunis village in Fayoum is a good model of how tourism can be successfully integrated in the sustainable development through the five pre-requests motioned above. Although it took 50 years
of spontaneously local efforts to achieve rural sustainability, the village has turned from extreme
poverty to a sustainable village based on rural tourism without any governmental prior planning
schemes. Making the rural poor the starting point in the development process and to put the
priorities of the poor first of all is crucial for promoting sustainability. Ensuring that the individuals
have secure rights to resources with focus on issues of land ownership and tenure are key issues
for increasing benefits and productivity (Abo Elfetouh 2006). According to Abo Elfetouh (2006),
sustainability development goals within the context of rural Egypt are:
- Conserving Natural Resources and the Environment: the protection of agricultural land from
haphazard urban encroachment along with the other resources such as water surfaces and deserts, as well as preservation of water quality and air quality alike.
- Promoting Economic Growth: the stimulation of the local economic development, mobilization of resources and elaboration of new financial mechanisms to create more job opportunities,
which are appropriate to the market demands.
- Social Development and Equity: improvement of the quality of basic public services, narrowing
the rural – urban gap on the national and regional level alike and promoting gender equality.
Objectives, strategies and laws were formulated to achieve the sustainability goals but each region has its own character that requires a special treatment in order to exploit its ingredients as
appropriate for its circumstances. Rural tourism may be the solution as it has always been a valuable, growing economic strategy, advantage of low risks and costs and considering that resources
are available, costs are low and plans are smaller compared to other tourism plans nonetheless it
provides:
• Economic growth in rural areas.
• Create variety and stability in employment.
• Dynamism in commerce and industries.
• Creating opportunities to larger incomes in multiple activities.
• Creating new markets for agricultural products.
• Enhance a basis for the regional economy.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy