World Perspective

My husband and I recently visited Egypt for a five-day in the city of Cairo.

It was not a press trip and therefore associates / pampered binding was absent, there were no bells and whistles that make it very easy to view a destination through pink glasses.

We traveled in economy class and for the first time in many years, even bought a vacation package with a famous regional airline, just for the ease and convenience.

Our flight was more than satisfactory as we are no strangers to "sit at the back of the bus", but it was the experience on the ground, which was disappointing and made us realize that Egypt needs a tourism industry overhaul.

Make no mistake, the system is efficient, but it is just that - a system in which every tourist has been pushed into a bus and treated as a herd, ready to be milked of their hard-earned cash. This seems harsh, but after five days in Egypt, I felt as if I was nothing more than a human ATM.

There was no genuine gestures of good will that make you want to pay a gratuity. Instead we were faced with attempts to puncture sincerity us of our wages against our wishes.

We were told to pay tips and we were told that we would be outrageously priced attending a spectacular sound and light show at the famous Giza Pyramids.

There has been no attempt to actually ask ourselves what we would do on our holidays and when we cancelled the cheesy sounding overly dramatic light, it did not go down well with the young and inexperienced handler.

We felt as though the tourists were treated with contempt, we were there to participate in our life savings, as it was our duty to keep dipping into this bottomless pit.

The hotel did not escape hawkers, a trip to the toilet saw me spend more than a penny "- try a couple of Egyptian pounds. But I had to laugh when our doorman, after delivering our bags in our room, we have asked to submit his CV off Montgomerie Golf Club one occasion that we would return to Dubai. You can not beat an opportunist!

Back to the pyramid and we were shocked by the coup of security measures as well as blatant attempts of the tourist police for us to open our wallets. As a result, we spent very little time to watch the giant tomb of Cheops, tired of the hassle and stress and are thus far from our visit to one of the original seven wonders.

On a cheerier note, once we had buried barter and tours with a taxi driver to take us than untrodden paths, our holiday took a turn for the better.

Cairo offers a remarkable history, culture and architecture, not to mention some very unique sites, sounds, smells, and goosebumps, but memorable experiences in 40 years that require taxis push-start.

And that's why millions of tourists still flock to Egypt every year - but think how many more would visit or make a return if the tourism industry in Egypt has taken steps to address some of questions that I have just outlined?

I am in no rush to go back to Cairo, because I can not tolerate being constantly hassled for money at every turn.

Yes, most of the tourists come from privileged countries, but that is no excuse for treating them as if they have money to burn.