Nermine Mahmoud SHOUKRY
(Mansoura University, Daqahleya, Egypt)
Keywords: urban, archaeology, cultural heritage, tourism, GIS maps, Mobile Applications
Abstract:
Urban tourism is a type of tourism, known and practiced for a long time in various countries around the world but rarely in Egypt. This kind of tourism generally rebounds after economic and political crises the thing that allows countries to take the opportunity to reactivate their economies.
View the current economic difficulties in Egypt, solutions affecting the daily lives of Egyptians had to be found while protecting the cultural heritage patrimony of Cairo. In other words, it is about encouraging tourists to visit the city by organizing special touristic programs for the city. This cannot be achieved without the documentation of the patrimony; it must include the events that took place in the chosen area as well as people who lived there.
But this kind of tourism cannot be developed through normal touristic process of travel agencies as it is not applicable to mass tourism. On the contrary, it can only be achieved through individual electronic programs whereby tourists would have access to mobile applications supplied by GIS maps where all or part of the information is already uploaded. New technologies will then play a double role of preserving cultural heritage and regenerating economy which leads to sustainable development of the chosen area.
This article aims to show how urban tourism in Egypt can be generated while using the new technologies for documenting and preserving the national patrimony. The article discusses the undeveloped area of Historical Cairo that risks, nowadays, to be moved off the list of the International Patrimony List of the UNESCO if not documented and developed.