The Egyptian Government's role in re-establishing the hotel industry in Cairo

This article analyzes the role of the Egyptian Government in reviving and improving the Egyptian hotel industry in the revolutionary period. It provides a case study of a country with large political problems, but at the same time pursuing a dream-a dream that was expensive and demanding. Tourism was understood to be an important tool in promoting political stability and providing some legitimacy to a political system opposed by the major powers in the world. This study will examine the Egyptian Government's role in re-establishing the hotel industry as an important economic sector in Egypt during the period from 1953 to 1957, which was considered a critical political period. The year 1953 marked the beginning of the official plans to increase the hotel facilities in Cairo with the establishment of the Tourism Department; and 1957 marked the end of Suez Crisis of 1956. The study utilized unpublished U.S. Department of State documents that show that the hotel industry was used as tool to put pressure on the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952-1970) to accept U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and was one of the main issues negotiated between the two countries after the Suez Crisis.