The role of Tunis village in Fayoum governorate as : a cultural tourism model

Abstract EN

Tunis village in Fayoum Governorate is one of the best practices for cultural tourism in Egypt.

It was rediscovered in the sixties by the Egyptian poet Sayed Hegab and his Swiss wife Evelynne Porret.

Nowadays, Tunis village has a pottery school, ten pottery studios, several guest houses and hosts an Annual Pottery Festival.

Data collection involved: a questionnaire survey with tourists visiting Tunis Village; in-depth interviews with some expert pottery artists.

As a secondary method, participant observation technique was conducted, which included contribution to the Annual Pottery Festival, which was held in Tunis Village between 28^*^ and November 2013.

Inside Tunis village, there are some positive aspects such as friendly interaction between local people with tourists, in addition to the existence of many activities for tourists (cultural, nature, and sports activities), while negative aspects at Tunis village are that local artists do not speak any languages other than Arabic language; the prices are exaggerated and the signage is poor.

The paper recommends qualified English speaking vendors at the pottery studios to communicate with tourists.