For Arab tourists, Cairo can be sin city

As the sun set on another day of "Arab Season," Amr Khouli leaned on the cushions of his boat as it moved to the gentle waves of the Nile.

This time of year, Mr. Khouli spends days on his faluka, one of the many motorboats that cart tourists up and down the wide river that cuts through this city, catering to a growing number of Arab tourists who have passed up violent Lebanon and opted for safer Egypt for summertime holidays.

In 2006, 13 percent more Arab tourists came to Egypt and stayed 12 percent longer than the year before. This season is shaping up to be another banner year because of the Lebanese instability, says Hala el-Khatib, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism.

But while Khouli welcomes the influx of money that comes with the uptick in tourism, many Egyptians complain that Arabs coming from nearby countries, such as religiously strict Saudi Arabia and Libya, are using Cairo as their own city of sin.

Indeed, for many of these tourists, the pyramids and the Sphinx are low on the agenda. High-end shopping, the best restaurants, Egypt's two seas, and watching Egypt's famous movies are the common pastimes.

But it is the tales of drinking to excess, driving recklessly, and even soliciting prostitutes that dominate the Egyptian view of Arab tourists.

To be sure, tourists of all stripes in Egypt drink more than their share of the locally brewed Stella beer, but the exceptional wealth of the Arab tourists coupled with what Egyptians see as violations of religious rules grates more than the bad behavior of Westerners.

"It's very [strict] in Saudi Arabia because of the religion, so we like to come here to see different countries and different religions – it's not so [strict] as in Saudi Arabia," says Hossam Mohamed al-Shariff, who works in the Saudi embassy here.

Rising numbers, longer stays

Tourists from Arab countries made up about 20 percent of all visitors in 2005, according to Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics 2005 yearbook, the latest edition available. But they stay 50 percent longer than their Western counterparts and therefore spend more per tourist. Egypt wants to increase that with sparkling new malls featuring expensive foreign brand names like Gucci and Bulgari. Hotels throw lavish Saudi-only parties featuring top Arab singers, and house casinos and shopping lure Arab tourists, hotel employees say.

The "Arab Season" runs from about July 1 through September, although this year may be cut short since Ramadan begins in early September.

Most visitors stay for several weeks, either in top hotels or rented furnished apartments. The demand means that an apartment that might rent for a few hundred dollars in the winter could go for $2,000 a month, says Fahmy Nadeem, who rents apartments. Some families move out of their places in the summer to make a quick profit from renting to visitors. Landlords even toss residents out to ensure that leases end on May 30.

"I prefer Lebanon to Egypt … but Lebanon has problems now," says Hamad el-Shamali, who is visiting from Kuwait with his wife and six children, as he reads a newspaper in the cafe of the swanky Grand Hyatt hotel.

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