• Egypt’s award-winning Sinai Trail closed in 2024 after security services systematically blocked permits, ending a once-promising Bedouin-managed tourism project.
• Former trail guides now face limited options, with some turning to illegal activities resulting in deaths, while Egypt ignores the global growth trend in adventure tourism.
What began as one of Egypt’s most promising sustainable tourism ventures has come to an abrupt end, leaving local Bedouin communities reeling and adventure tourists with one fewer destination on their global hiking maps.
The Sinai Trail, a pioneering 550-kilometer hiking route that wound through the rugged landscapes of South Sinai, officially ceased operations in late 2024 after years of increasing security restrictions and permit denials that organizers say made continuing impossible.
"We knocked on every door, we asked everybody that we knew to give us support," said one of the initiative's co-founders, who requested anonymity due to security concerns. "But in the end, we couldn't overcome the obstacles placed in our path."
The Sinai Trail began to take shape in the summer of 2014, emerging during a particularly difficult period for the region. While North Sinai was experiencing unrest that devastated tourism throughout the peninsula, South Sinai remained peaceful yet suffered economically from the association.
"We had a lot of hope, we had a lot of energy, and we loved what we did," the co-founder explained. "We did it because a place we love was on its knees at that time. And because we felt that this place had something big to contribute to people from all around the world."
The trail officially launched in 2015 as a 220-kilometer, 12-day route that ventured into previously uncharted and spectacularly scenic areas of South Sinai. The path stretched from the Gulf of Aqaba to the summit of Saint Catherine, Egypt’s highest peak, located near the revered Jebel Musa (Mount Sinai).
Jebel Musa holds profound religious importance, particularly in Islamic tradition. Muslims believe it is where the Prophet Musa (Moses) received divine revelation from Allah. The Quran vividly describes this sacred encounter in Surah Al-A’raf (7:143):
"And when Moses arrived at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, 'My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.' [Allāh] said, 'You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.' But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, 'Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first [among my people] of the believers.'"
This powerful verse captures the mountain’s central place in Islamic spirituality as a site where the divine presence was manifested, making the area not merely a scenic destination but holy ground for Muslim visitors. Many travelers on the Sinai Trail sought to connect with this spiritual legacy while experiencing the region’s natural beauty.
The area’s religious significance extends beyond Islam, with Jebel Musa also revered in Christianity and Judaism as Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. This convergence of religious traditions made the trail not just an adventure tourism destination, but a path through lands of deep spiritual importance.
The Sinai Trail incorporated ancient pilgrimage routes that had been used for centuries by the faithful journeying to these sacred sites, adding layers of historical and religious significance to the modern hiking experience.
Three Bedouin tribes—the Tarabin, the Muzeina, and the Jabeleya—initially collaborated on the project, working together for a year to devise the optimal route. Drawing on ancient pilgrimage, trade, and smuggling paths, they created a trail that showcased the wilderness of Sinai while preserving their endangered nomadic heritage.
Each tribe held an equal share in the project’s management, establishing a cooperative model that would later expand to include more communities. The entire trail was first traversed in late 2016 by more than 20 international hikers, some traveling from as far as New Zealand and the United States.
The trail’s success quickly led to broader economic benefits for local communities. Small businesses emerged around the hiking routes, including women-produced crafts in remote areas. A training program was established to pass guiding skills from Bedouin elders to the younger generation.
By 2017, the Sinai Trail had expanded dramatically to a 550-kilometer, 48-day journey that traversed the territories of all eight Bedouin tribes of South Sinai, including the Awlad Said, Garasha, Sowalha, Hamada, and Alegat. This expansion represented not just a longer hiking path but a more inclusive economic opportunity for the region’s indigenous communities.
The project’s excellence was recognised in 2016 when the British Guild of Travel Writers voted it the Best New Tourism Project in the Wider World.
The award ceremony in London was attended by high-profile Egyptian officials including the governor of South Sinai, the minister of tourism, and Egypt’s ambassador to the UK—marking the first significant show of official support.
Encouraged by this success, in 2019 the organizers launched a sister initiative, the Red Sea Mountain Trail (RSMT). This 170-kilometer, 14-day hiking route explored the secluded highlands around Hurghada, applying the same community-based tourism model that had proven successful in Sinai.
“These were two organisations that brought people from every tribe in their region together in a cooperative way that worked to show the best of their region and tell their story in their own voice to the world,” the co-founder said.
The initial government backing, particularly from then-Tourism Minister Rania al-Mashat, was crucial to the trails’ early prosperity. Unlike her predecessors, Mashat actively promoted these groundbreaking initiatives abroad as part of a strategy to diversify Egypt’s tourism offerings beyond traditional historical sites and beach resorts.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point. After the crisis subsided and Mashat moved to the Economic Development and International Cooperation portfolio, engagement with tourism officials evaporated.
“After Covid, [Mashat] went to a different department, a new tourism minister came in and we literally never had a single communication with him or anybody after,” the co-founder noted. “The environment that we had to operate in [from that moment] was completely different.”
The new administration refocused on conventional historical and beach tourism while progressively tightening restrictions on hiking activities. Permits for multi-day trips became increasingly difficult to obtain, with security agencies more actively monitoring and restricting hikes, particularly in the Red Sea Mountains.
"At first, we only thought it would be temporary. We didn't think that this could be something serious," the co-founder said. "It seemed so bizarre that the government would try to stop tourism that made such a difference to some of the most marginalized communities in Egypt, and that had made such a contribution to its reputation as an adventure tourism destination."
By 2022, the situation had deteriorated significantly. Security officers arrested a Bedouin leader and a guide from the RSMT, holding them for hours and warning they would face imprisonment if they organized more trips. Both were compelled to sign documents agreeing to cease their activities, forcing the RSMT to immediately suspend operations.
“I don’t know why [they] tightened up particularly in Hurghada [first],” the co-founder said. “My feeling is that it might have something to do with the fact that the Bedouin community [there] and in the Red Sea mountains as a whole have less leverage in negotiating power with the security services than the Bedouins did in South Sinai.”
The Sinai Trail managed to hold out longer but began scaling back activities in 2023. By 2024, hikes had almost completely stopped due to the lack of official permits, which exposed guides to security risks and safety liabilities. In October 2024, organizers reluctantly announced the project’s official closure.
Hours after posting their closure statement on social media—where they had built a substantial following—military intelligence officers contacted the Sinai Trail team, pressuring them to remove the announcement.
The co-founder described a pattern of intimidation that had been building for years: "That was seen in detentions of people [and] different kinds of harassment that would happen: police cars parking outside some of the houses for up to a week, people following us in the street, receiving strange phone calls."
The crackdown appears contradictory to Egypt’s stated tourism goals. The tourism ministry is currently working to double visitor numbers from 15.7 million in 2024 to between 25 and 30 million by 2028, with officials emphasizing the private sector’s importance in achieving these targets.
Meanwhile, global trends strongly favor adventure tourism. A 2015 report from the World Tourism Organization identified it as one of the industry’s fastest-growing segments, noting its resilience, high value, support for local economies, and sustainability—qualities that seem perfectly aligned with Egypt’s needs.
The global adventure tourism market has seen explosive growth, increasing from $89 billion in 2010 to $263 billion in 2013—a 195 percent jump in just three years. More recent estimates from Global Market Insights valued the market at $483 billion in 2023, projecting 15.2 percent annual growth through 2032. Within this sector, hiking consistently ranks as the most popular activity.
Why would Egyptian authorities move against this global trend? The opacity of the crackdown makes definitive answers elusive, but trail organizers suggest both political and economic motivations.
“The environment [in Egypt] is anti-trails; it’s one that opposes the free growth and development of trail projects,” the co-founder said.
One theory holds that authorities have prioritized high-end resort tourism over community-based initiatives, despite the latter’s greater benefits to local communities. In Saint Catherine, often considered Egypt’s trekking capital, a controversial major urban development project is currently underway.
Another suspicion involves the security services’ historical wariness toward Egypt’s Bedouin communities.
There may be reluctance to allow these traditionally marginalized groups to independently operate and manage a potentially lucrative industry.
Economic self-interest might also play a role. In the absence of a formal permit system that security services could directly profit from, they may prefer to maintain the current informal arrangements, which guarantee an undeclared flow of money.
“Keeping an entire industry working without permits actually works in the favour of officials,” the co-founder explained. “It means that they create an informal economy in which they can agree for a trip to go [ahead] unofficially, but that would be done in exchange for money, or a favour, or something else that they need of value from the veteran who’s taking the trip.”
Additionally, powerful figures in the traditional tourism sector—especially those in the beach and resort business—may have lobbied against these independent, grassroots initiatives that could have represented competition.
For the Bedouin communities involved in the hiking initiatives, the consequences of the trails’ closure have been severe and sometimes tragic.
With few alternative employment opportunities in their traditional territories, some former guides—particularly young men—have turned to dangerous illegal activities like smuggling, illegal mining, and in some areas, drug cultivation.
“That’s one of the most tragic outcomes of the whole thing,” the co-founder admitted.
At least three young men who had worked as guides on one of Egypt’s long-distance trails turned to smuggling after its closure. Two have since been killed by the army. Another who entered illegal gold mining was arrested and remains incarcerated.
“These were incredibly promising young members of the Bedouin community who excelled as guides on the hiking trails and had bright futures ahead of them, [which] was a real source of income that enabled them to maintain their families and their lives,” the co-founder said.
“When that is taken away, we have to think about what other opportunities are actually available for people in these marginalized desert regions and for people that live in the desert. What else is there to do, really?” he asked rhetorically.
The co-founder observed that Bedouins have traditionally not gravitated toward conventional nine-to-five employment. He firmly believes that the most effective way to create sustainable livelihood opportunities would be to allow them to engage in legitimate work aligned with their cultural heritage and knowledge, such as trail tourism.
“The government has taken away that opportunity—and that has come with tragic consequences,” he concluded.
As Egypt continues to develop luxury resorts and promote traditional tourism offerings, the closure of these community-based initiatives represents not just the loss of unique adventure destinations, but the foreclosure of economic opportunity for some of the country’s most vulnerable communities.
The Sinai Trail and similar projects offered a model of tourism that was environmentally sustainable, culturally sensitive, and economically beneficial to marginalized populations. They showcased a different side of Egypt to international travelers while preserving endangered cultural practices and knowledge.
For now, at least, that vision has been extinguished, and with it, the hopes of numerous Bedouin communities who had glimpsed a future of economic dignity through sharing their homeland and heritage with the world.
