The Tourist Economy

"Backsheesh!" Egypt. 1893

Emily describes several encounters that show the degree to which local economies were tied to the tourist experience.  North of Aswan, “the boat was blessed by a Moslem saint who rowed out to us and in return received ‘baksheesh’ so I suppose now we will surely have a prosperous voyage to Aswan and back.” In Aswan, “we wandered about among the bazaars which are very picturesque and where they have all sorts of strange barbaric things from the Soudan for sale.”  

Emily contrasts highly-trafficked tourist sites with the little town of Girzeh, where they stopped to bake bread in the public ovens: “We did not mind the delay in the least, as Girzeh is a very picturesque town and beautifully situated and we enjoyed rambling through the bazaars and various streets and watching the people who paid no attention to us as it is not a place where tourists often stop and consequently we did not suggest to them, as to the natives of more frequented places, unlimited backsheesh.”