Egypt and the Gulf are suffering a serious case of role reversal as a video depicting a Saudi man being denied entry to an Egyptian restaurant emerged just a week after an Egyptian woman was mocked on video in an Emirati mall.
The Saudi man was denied entry to a restaurant in Egypt because of his traditional Saudi robe, the thobe.
Similarly to last week's Egyptian dress code violation, soon after the video was posted, Egyptian's tourism sector mobilized to apologize to the man in question.
Not only did Egyptian Tourism Minister Khaled Ramy officially apologize to the Saudi man, Ghaleb Hazzaa, but tourism official Abdul Fattah Al Asai also told El-Watan newspaper that the restaurant would be shut down for a month for the lack of any regulations regarding dress code that give the restaurant the right to ban Hazzaa's entry.
“If you were in Saudi Arabia wearing a shirt and pants, can we deny you entry to a restaurant?” one man is heard asking in the video, while the other comments that “It is an embarrassment that you do not respect tourists, particularly for wearing traditional robe.”
“This is an isolated act, which does not at all reflect Egyptians’ way of welcoming Arab brothers," said Rami during a meeting on Thursday with the Saudi visitors. “The ministry does not allow any infringements from any tourism installation against tourists.”
One may wonder, why is it then that a traditional Saudi thobe compelled a minister to apologize, while confusing it for an Egyptian galabeyya rendered the Saudi national as an unwanted visitor?
In most of the Gulf countries, thobes are worn by almost all men, and are considered prestigious, unlike the case in Egypt where galabeyyas seldom reflect sophistication.
It is shameful enough that many Egyptian restaurants and lounges practice discrimination against their visitors based on their outfit, but it's even funnier that a hospitality personnel failed miserably at identifying the difference between a local galabeyya and the national costume of almost all Gulf countries.
