American in Egypt

[mislav]

khm,you will be safer to avoid mass western tourists places, but Egypt is not a place to be afraid of

I said "feel safer" not "be safer".

Still, for many factors, the potential danger is equal in all of the three mentioned areas - truly minimal.

 

[scubafreaky]

My wife is certain that I am going to die in a terrorist explosion.

C'mon man...pick up your stones. There are 15,000 murders every year in the U.S. and the murderers do not discriminate based on who you are or where you are from. In terms of people killing you Egypt is very safe...some people may not like you because you are an American, much the same way people in America hate one another, but you can assure your wife you will not die in a terrorist explosion.

I was a little leary of going to Egypt last year, but even 2 weeks after the bombings in Dahab, I found myself and family in Dahab, diving and enjoying an enviroment unparalleled on earth. Egypt is a fantastic place, and instead of being concerned, you should take your wife with you and be fortunate enough to have the opportunity to embark on this potential once in a life experience.

I do have one bit of advice...do your best to assimilate. Don't wear shorts and a ball cap for instance. Even in Sharm respect the culture, it goes a long way in how people will react to you. If you would like some tips I found to be very useful, PM me...

 

[DomaNitrogen]

Morgan;

I give you my word if you dont like sharm and the diving here. I will give you your Money.

You cant go wrong "FULL MONEY BACK GUARANTY"

FOR LEGAL PURPOSES THE ABOVE STATEMENT MIGHT NOT BE CORRECT

 

[Air One]

Egyptians are lovely people.
Egypt is a fantastic country.
The Red Sea is one of the best diving spot in the world.

If you fear the bombs and don't fear the (rough) Red Sea, go on a cruise to Brothers Islands, Daedalus, Rocky Island : it's absolutely amazing ! :11:

 

[Jai Bar]

C'mon man...pick up your stones. There are 15,000 murders every year in the U.S. and the murderers do not discriminate based on who you are or where you are from. In terms of people killing you Egypt is very safe...some people may not like you because you are an American, much the same way people in America hate one another, but you can assure your wife you will not die in a terrorist explosion.

The U.S. is a vast place with a huge population. So the chances of an "innocent" person to get murdered in the U.S. (normalize it to area and/or population?) are not so high.

On the other hand, bomb attacks are targeted to a specific type of people- the same "innocent" tourists who in most cases had a very small chance of getting murdered in the US (or everywhere else, for the matter)...

Considering that most of the tourists in Sinai are concentrated in not so many "cities" and/or resorts, which are the terrorist's aim, a tourist has more chances of beeing a victim in Egypt rather than accidentally beeing murdered while walking in the street in the US.

I am not preaching to stay at home- myself I'll keep visiting Egypt (which is safer than my country anyway ) - but saying it is more dangerous to live in the US is not allways true. I think in terms of injuring tourists, Egypt may not be the safest place on the planet. To remind you, several (if not most) terror attacks in the last years all over Egypt were aimed at tourists.

 

[Doc]

The U.S. is a vast place with a huge population. So the chances of an "innocent" person to get murdered in the U.S. (normalize it to area and/or population?) are not so high.

There simply are no innocent by-standers. They do not exist.

As for Sharm? I went there in August with my Jewish sounding last name and everything.

Never gave it a thought. Felt as free as a bird, although being the oldest person on the streets was a bit sobering.

Go, have fun, dive. My trip report is on the hotlink below... see January 12th.

 

[Air One]

Considering that most of the tourists in Sinai are concentrated in not so many "cities" and/or resorts, which are the terrorist's aim, a tourist has more chances of beeing a victim in Egypt rather than accidentally beeing murdered while walking in the street in the US.

Are you sure of this ?
Compare the stats : how many tourists went in Egypt the 5 last years, how many have been killed : about 4.5 Millions of tourists/year, how many killed ? Less than 100 in Sharm and Dahab terror attacks> rate 1/45000 ( or 1/225000 if you consider 5 * 4.5 Millions tourists )
300 Millions people in US, 15000 killed every year = 75 000 in 5 years > rate 1/4000.

It seems to be less dangerous to spend hollidays in Egypt than in USA.
In the same way, it's less dangerous to spend hollidays in USA than to drive in France...

 

[mania]

Not to mentioned that during the attack in Sharm none of the tourists died. The aim was mainly Egyptians. The same in Dahab.
Mania

 

[Jai Bar]

Are you sure of this ?
Compare the stats : how many tourists went in Egypt the 5 last years, how many have been killed : about 4.5 Millions of tourists/year, how many killed ? Less than 100 in Sharm and Dahab terror attacks> rate 1/45000 ( or 1/225000 if you consider 5 * 4.5 Millions tourists )
300 Millions people in US, 15000 killed every year = 75 000 in 5 years > rate 1/4000.

It seems to be less dangerous to spend hollidays in Egypt than in USA.
In the same way, it's less dangerous to spend hollidays in USA than to drive in France...

Do not be deceived by the numbers of tourists visiting Egypt. As much as Sinai is a beautiful place, it does not attract millions of visitors. And yes, most of the tourism in Sinai is concentrated in a relatively small area- a strip along the coast with some scattered resorts, with most hotels concentrated in Sharm, Dahab and Nuweiba.

You should recalculate but instead of 4.5 million tourists perhaps something like 100,000-200,000 visitors per year. And since terrorists have increased the interest in Sinai in the last year, I don't think history of past 5 years is relevant.

I suppose one can play with numbers as much as he wants, if it makes you feel safer it's okay. But the threat exists and telling someone to go ahead and that it is safer than crossing the street or walking in any US sidewalk is not true. There is an amount of risk in Sinai. Last week only, the Egyptian security service have arrested about two dozens of terror activists (Hamas? El Qaueda? Does it make any difference?) and the estimate is that the whole region is swarming with El Quaeda activists.

Driving in Israel is probably more dangerous than spending a holiday in France

 

[Air One]

You should recalculate but instead of 4.5 million tourists perhaps something like 100,000-200,000 visitors per year. And since terrorists have increased the interest in Sinai in the last year, I don't think history of past 5 years is relevant.

I wasn't talking about Sinaï, but Egypt : most of the tourists are concentrated along the Nile river from Abou Simbel to Caïro. The bigest terror attack occured in Karnak in 1997, 62 persons were killed by a comando.

I suppose one can play with numbers as much as he wants

Right, when I said "100 tourists killed in the 5 last years", it was an exaggeration.

and the estimate is that the whole region is swarming with El Quaeda activists.

There are many activists in Egypt, that's a fact, but there are activists here in France, in UK , in Belgium, in Spain, Germany, Italy : we still have dozens terror groups in our big towns. We fight them since the 80's.
There is a risk if I stay in France, Spain, UK, Germany.... It's dangerous to travel in Indonesia, Egypt, Philippines, Malaysia... and also USA.
So ? What should we do ? Staying home and diving in the tub ? Or shouldn't we show them that we accept this risk as we accept the risk of driving cars in France, or even to go in a filling station in USA.


Last numbers : in France 300 persons/year are killed by fire weapons ( accidents and homicides ). The population is 63 Millions of people.