Leveraging Cultural Heritage for the Development of Heritage Tourism in Egyptian Museums: The Barber’s Kit Carrier as a Model.

The material forms of our heritage that is, tangible cultural heritage are among the most vulnerable heritage types to rapid change. The social transformations underway, together with the conditions and demands of the present age, have largely ended the use of many material tools once common in earlier times. Today there is an ever-growing demand for tools that are faster and easier to use in order to keep pace with the accelerating rhythm of life. Consequently, this may result in the disappearance of certain physical objects that constitute a vital segment of tangible cultural heritage. In this study, we examine a rare and now obsolete artifact: the traditional barber’s kit (ḥaml al-Hallaq), due to its strong links to a host of enduring Egyptian traditions that form part of intangible cultural heritage. This nineteenth-century object is preserved in the Ethnographic Museum of the Egyptian Geographical Society in Cairo. The research provides a detailed description and analysis of the artifact to elucidate its function and to relate it to relevant elements of intangible cultural heritage.The study also aims to supply tour guides with comprehensive information that enables them to present deeper and more informative narratives, moving beyond conventional descriptive methods. Moreover, it highlights the role that museums can play in preserving and sustaining this heritage by presenting it to younger generations as a core component of Egyptian identity, and by contributing to the development of heritage tourism within Egyptian museums.