Egypt Tourism: Muslim Party Wants to Ban Bikinis and Alcohol

The Egyptian Salafist Nour Party would enforce a ban on serving alcohol to both foreigners and Egyptian nationals if it is elected.

Nader Bakar, the Nour Party's spokesperson, told workers in the tourism sector in Aswan on Monday that his ultra-conservative party would push for a ban on serving alcohol if it came to power, the Egyptian Ahram online reported.

Explaining the initiative, Mr Bakar said that tourists would only be able to drink alcohol they brought with them from abroad and only in their hotel rooms.

Speaking at another public rally in Midan El-‎Mahatta, northern Egypt, Mr Bakar also said that the party would establish a chain ‎of hotels that would function in compliance with Islamic law, but failed to provide further details.

He also said the Salafist party would ban beach tourism because it only serves to "induce vice"‎. Women and men would instead have separate beaches.

In contrast, at the weekend Mohamed Morsi, head of the Muslim ‎Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), told Ahram that ‎his party did not plan on banning alcohol in hotels ‎and at tourist resorts.

Egyptians would also be free to drink "in their homes", he added.

The comments came as people working in the tourism sector have been increasingly worried by the rise of Islamists parties in Egypt. The country heavily relies on tourism as the industry accounts for over a tenth of its gross domestic product. Last year Egypt's Red Sea resorts such as Sharm el-Sheikh or Dahab and historic monuments have attracted more than 15 million visitors.

The Nour Party won 19 per cent of the vote in the initial round of ‎Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls, ‎while the FJP secured 37 per cent.‎