Stamp issuance is planned months or even years in advance. This stamp set was carefully planned showing not the ancient sites but things a prospective tourist might not know was possible in Egypt. In this case, a fishing trip in the Red Sea while staying at a modern, upscale, beachfront hotel. Then two days before the long planned date of issue……. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
There is a lot going on this stamp but I think it works. In the sixties people had a lot of confidence that rulers like Egypt’s Nasser would make things better. Modernity was coming to Egypt and the spoils were not just going to go to the connected. So not just the ancient, just a token hat tip to old style fishing. What Nasser was promoting on this stamp happened, just too late for him.
Todays stamp is issue AP18, a 1.1 Pound airmail stamp issued by Egypt when it was marketing itself as The United Arab Republic on June 7th, 1967. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the UN declared international tourism year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25 used. The value doubles if unused showing people were actually mailing this stamp. That is a differentiator from most stamps of this style.
Former General Nasser had overthrown King Farouk 15 years before this stamp. He had survived an attack in 1956 from the old colonial powers and now he was an important leader in the third world non aligned movement. Central to people hopes at the time was that the cutting of old colonial bonds would allow a flowering of progress from newly freed people. Colonies were of the past and that included Israel, an enclave of European Jews in the Muslim fertile crescent. Surely they would be gone soon the way Nasser banished the Jews of Egypt, with all their connections with the old monied royal elite.
On June 5th, 1967, two days before this stamp was issued, Israel, expecting an attack on itself stuck out on three fronts against Arab neighbors. In five days, the Sinai including the Red Sea Beach resorts were in Israeli hands. The Israeli occupation would last a decade and included new Jewish settlements that implied permanence. Nasser offered his resignation, but it was his eventual successor Sadat who finally got back the Sinai in return for recognition of the Israeli state. Many Arabs thought the deal a sellout and four years later Sadat was assassinated.
It was only under Sadat that tourism got moving in Egypt. In 1951 100,000 tourist visited Egypt. In 2017, it was 17 million and tourism is the biggest industry and employs one quarter of the Egyptian workforce. Sadat lightened up on visa restrictions from Europe, North America, and even Israel. His late 70s five year plan, gosh that sure sounds more communist then non-aligned,, allocated 12 percent of the national budget for tourist infrastructure. The Turks were invited in to help establish colleges to train in hospitality management. Build it and they will come.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast todays stamp designer. He believed in the future even if sometimes reality got in the way. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.