Tito's Tourist Crisis
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2016
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tito worked as an entertainer in Egypt’s hotels. All gone. Now, his livelihood wrecked, he takes us on a personal and moving exploration of his country’s tourist crisis. He introduces us to life inside the tourist resorts that have no tourists, and to the people whose lives have changed forever:
Tito is 30. He has worked as an entertainer in Egypt’s illustrious hotel scene all his working life. He sings, he dances, he is a comedian and he has entertained thousands of western tourists over his 15-year career. Those tourists aren’t there anymore, neither is the work and neither are most of the hotels Tito has worked in.
The historic but violent Egyptian revolution, the bombing of a Russian plane in Egypt, the stabbing of British tourists in Hurgada and most recently the downing of another passenger plane, have left Egypt’s tourist industry beleaguered. What was once a thriving fifteen billion dollar trade in 2010 is now struggling to achieve half that in 2016. But behind the economics are real human stories of despair including Tito’s himself.
Image: An Egyptian guide walks by the pyramids at Giza, Credit: Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This time was very busy every night was a big audience to our shows and we used to get hundreds of people to watch our shows. |
| 0:12.0 | Right now most of the hotels, they don't have this right now, |
| 0:16.0 | and we miss them. |
| 0:17.0 | We miss them to watch what we do for them. My name is Tito. I'm working here at the Entertainer in Daritzi, |
| 0:29.6 | Resort of Forgada, and one of the time not so far it was one of the busiest tourism city around the wallet |
| 0:37.4 | After the Russian crash it was banned tourism business from Russia |
| 0:41.8 | Between 30 40% of the hotel around Egypt |
| 0:45.2 | of tourism went down and shut down and I'm not a professional presenter but I'm gonna |
| 0:52.1 | tell you the story from my heart. |
| 0:54.6 | The BBC asked me to make it so listen to my story. |
| 1:00.0 | BBC news at midday. |
| 1:02.1 | Egyptian search and rescue teams have found the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane |
| 1:06.6 | which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula with 224 people on board. |
| 1:11.4 | An official at the scene has... people on this |
| 1:14.2 | this story and now we know that US intelligence believes it was most likely an |
| 1:20.7 | explosive device that brought down the plane. |
| 1:23.9 | I want to read to you. |
| 1:24.9 | Russia has suspended all flights to Egypt on security grounds. |
| 1:29.0 | In Shamel Sheikh, there was a day of confusion |
| 1:31.4 | for the estimated 20,000 British tourists stranded there |
| 1:34.8 | since Britain suspended flights to the... |
| 1:37.0 | Have a look my friend, I make it the magic hello. |
... |
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