Encouraging Responsible Tourism to Grow Sustainable Rural Communities
Egypt is known abroad for its deserts and artefacts, but Egyptians retain a strong rural identity and over half of the country's citizens live in the countryside. The Visit Badrashin! Project launched in 2018 with the mission of creating off-the-beaten track tour experiences which heed attention to this sizable and important link to Egyptian heritage – the Egyptian countryside and its people, traditional food, crafts, story tellers, landscapes and activities.
Funded by the European Union (EU,) and implemented by North South Consultants Exchange (NSCE) and the Agriculture Research Center (ARC), the project supports and promotes responsible and rural tourism in Dahshur, Saqqara and Abu Sir; three villages in the district of Badrashin, Egypt.
The project collaborates with local businesses in the district to foster the development of agricultural, economic and human resources to empower the local community of Badrashin. This collaboration better enables local entrepreneurs to develop and deliver innovative market-oriented responsible tourism products and experiences, and encourages more employment opportunities while developing the local economy of the area and improving living conditions on a whole.
Our vision:
To contribute to inclusive and sustainable rural employment by valorizing and protecting local assets (environment, landscapes, culture, heritage, local food and craft), by strengthening the capacity of local youth and women to develop and deliver market oriented, safe, innovative and value-added products and services, and by working with local and national stakeholders to create an enabling environment for the development of responsible rural tourism in Badrashin.
Support to existing and new rural enterprises:
The project aims to support 150 small, medium and rural enterprises that provide visitors with authentic services and products, thereby contributing to the growth of rural tourism. Support to these enterprises is provided through entrepreneurship and business development training, business coaching sessions, legal knowledge sessions, financial literacy sessions, as well as a Business Development Center (BDS). Training modules and materials have been specifically tailored to the responsible tourism context and the needs of the local community in Badrashin.
Support to local responsible rural tourism:
Visit Badrashin! also works on enhancing visitor experiences in the area, working closely with local tourism stakeholders such as tourism operators, guesthouses and handicrafts initiatives. The project has prepared six original tour packages in line with the principles of responsible tourism that have been designed and tested, while and working on actively promoting them to visitors. Local tourism initiatives and enterprises also receive tourism-oriented training that aim to build their capacities to receive visitors and provide them with an authentic rural experience. These training sessions include tour guiding, catering, hosting, food preparation and handicrafts technical training.
Awareness raising:
In order to support the project’s activities and ensure continued sustainability, awareness raising activities have been carried out to promote the shared ideals of responsible tourism. Responsible tourism requires the collaboration of visitors and the Badrashin community to guarantee a positive experience for all stakeholders. Thus, the project has been working on building awareness within the local community in regards to receiving visitors, and likewise, building the visitors’ awareness about the principles of responsible tourism.
Sustainable governance:
Visit Badrashin! supports the creation of an enabling environment for the development of responsible tourism in Badrashin. It works on allowing collaboration between local entrepreneurs and local and national authorities to address some of the major problems facing the development of a new tourism model such as rural tourism, and overcoming challenges such as limited cooperation and dialogue between stakeholders, local communities and local authorities, inadequate marketing, and limited knowledge of rural and responsible tourism assets.
About Badrashin
Badrashin is a rural area with unique history, culture and gastronomic traditions, which makes it perfectly suitable for development of rural responsible tourism. The area is known locally as one of the largest production areas of palm dates in Egypt.
Badrashin district (markaz) contains 18 villages and one city, with a total population of more than 537,000 inhabitants. Some villages are more well-known than others due to the presence of landmarks, pyramids, museums, pharaonic monuments or tombs. For example, Saqqara houses the Djoser complex, Dahshur is home to the Bent pyramids, and Abu Sir has an extensive necropolis and ruins of a Ramesside temple.
The district is easy to reach from Greater Cairo, with decent road connectivity to the different urban suburbs. It is approximately 25 km from the Giza Pyramids complex and approximately 35 km from Central Cairo.
Contact Us
Online: www.facebook.com/GoToBadrashin
Email: visitbadrashin@nsce-inter.com
Tel: 0109 777 2016 / 0102 362 8998