Marwa Hafez, an Egyptology graduate at the faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management in Suez, was hired in 2006 to work at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo as part of a group of 26 new guides. Of all of them, however, Hafez was the only woman, a position that, just as she was entering the labor market, made her feel lonely and, at times, intimidated. “It was not easy at all, for a young woman in her 20s, to be around them,” she recalled.

Coming from a small village in Sharqiya governorate, Hafez managed to carve out a niche for herself over the years, until she was eventually able to take the leap and open her own business as a tour guide in what’s still a rare move. “In the [tourism industry] most workers are men, there was no real support,” Hafez told Al-Monitor. “Preparing tours is a business: tickets, hotels, cars, drivers. And all of these are just male, male, male and male,” she added.

Yet looking back and comparing the situation to now, Hafez said there is some change, albeit slow, and that she perceives some greater presence of women in the sector beyond being just tour guides in big companies. “Now I have a stable life, I need to help others,” she said. “I try to support women in their career, to push other women to come and join.”

Like her, more women are gradually breaking into Egypt’s tourism sector and launching their own projects, often promoting along the way a new type of experience away from the commercial programs and mass tourism model that characterizes the country and that dives into lesser-visited locations and often overlooked activities.