Privacy Policy.

Effective date: August 8, 2026 · Last updated: August 8, 2026

1. Purpose and scope

This Privacy Policy explains how Online Era, trading as Sawa Tours (“Sawa”, “we”, “us” or “our”), collects, uses, shares, retains and protects personal data when you:

• browse sawa.tours;
• reserve or book a tour;
• start or join a shared departure;
• communicate with us by email, telephone, WhatsApp, form or social media;
• create or use a traveler or operator account;
• use a Sawa departures widget embedded on another website;
• submit a review, enquiry, operator application or support request; or
• otherwise interact with our services.

2. Who controls your data

The principal controller is:

Online Era, trading as Sawa Tours
ETAA license: 2179
Address: Flat 6, Floor 1, Block 1, Panorama Pyramids Building, El-Ahramat Street, Giza, Egypt
Privacy email: hello@sawa.tours
Telephone and WhatsApp: +20 109 284 7613

For the delivery of a booked tour, the named Operating Partner may act as a separate controller for the data it needs to operate the tour, meet its legal duties, keep its records and handle claims. Its identity is shown before payment or in your confirmation, and it must provide its own privacy information where required.

Where a traveler reaches Sawa through a partner operator or an embedded Sawa widget, Sawa and that referring partner may each control the data they collect for their own purposes.

3. Personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with Sawa, we may collect:

Identity and contact information

Name, title, email address, phone number, postal address, country of residence, nationality, preferred language and account identifiers.

Reservation and travel information

Selected itinerary and date, group size, traveler names, booking number, seat status, accommodation preferences, rooming arrangements, meeting and pickup details, flight or arrival information, special requests, referral code, communications, changes, cancellations and tour history.

Passport and compliance information

Where genuinely required for a confirmed service: passport number, issuing country, issue and expiry dates, date of birth, visa information and copies of relevant documents. We do not request passport information merely to browse the site or hold a free seat.

Health, accessibility and dietary information

Information you choose or need to provide about disability, mobility, allergies, dietary requirements, medical conditions, pregnancy or emergency needs. This can be sensitive personal data and is used only where there is an appropriate legal basis and it is necessary for safety or service delivery.

Payment and transaction information

Payment status, amount, currency, billing country, refund records and transaction references. The Platform does not collect or store payment-card numbers or security codes.

Technical and usage information

IP address, device and browser type, approximate location derived from IP address, pages viewed, referring page, campaign or operator referral code, timestamps, session information, error logs, and interaction with our website or embedded widget.

Communications and content

Emails, form submissions, WhatsApp and support messages, call notes, reviews, survey responses, photographs and complaints.

Operator and business information

For partner representatives: employer, job title, business contact details, license and insurance documents, payout details, tax information, tour listings, ratings, performance records and dashboard activity.

4. How we collect data

We collect data:

• directly from you or the Lead Traveler;
• from another traveler authorized to book for you;
• from a referring or Operating Partner;
• from our hosting, database, email, analytics and support providers;
• automatically through cookies, local storage, logs and similar technologies;
• through a Sawa widget on a partner website; and
• from public registers or sources when verifying an operator’s license, insurance or business status.

If you provide another person’s data, you must have the authority to do so and should direct them to this Policy.

5. Why we use data and our legal bases

The legal bases below use GDPR terminology because Sawa may offer services to travelers in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom. Equivalent or additional bases may apply under Egyptian law and other applicable laws.

Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it at any time, without affecting processing that was lawful before the withdrawal. Where we rely on legitimate interests you may object, and we will consider your rights alongside our reasons for continuing.

We do not use sensitive health data for marketing or unrelated profiling.

6. If you do not provide requested data

Fields marked as required are needed to provide the stated service, meet a legal duty or safely operate the tour. If you do not provide them we may be unable to hold a seat, confirm a booking, process payment, arrange an adjustment or allow participation. Optional information is identified as such.

7. Who receives personal data

We share data only where reasonably necessary, with:

• the Operating Partner named for your departure;
• hotels, cruise companies, guides, transport providers, attractions, airlines and other suppliers included in your booking;
• the operator or publisher whose referral link or Sawa widget you used, for attribution, service and agreed commission reporting;
• professional advisers, insurers, auditors and claims handlers;
• regulators, courts, law enforcement, tourism authorities, tax authorities or other bodies where disclosure is legally required or necessary to protect rights and safety; and
• a genuine buyer or successor if Sawa undergoes a merger, reorganization, financing or sale, subject to appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

We also use service providers who process data on our behalf under contract:

We do not sell personal data. We do not disclose traveler contact details to other travelers before a departure without permission, except where it is necessary for group coordination and has been clearly explained.

8. International transfers

Sawa is based in Egypt and tour services are delivered in Egypt, so if you are outside Egypt your personal data will be transferred to and processed in Egypt. Our service providers may also process data outside Egypt, including in the United States and the European Union.

Where data-protection law requires transfer safeguards, we use an available lawful mechanism, which may include an adequacy decision, standard contractual clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or another legally approved safeguard, and we assess our providers’ technical and contractual protections. Contact us to request further information about the safeguard relevant to your data.

9. Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose it was collected for, and to satisfy legal, accounting, tourism, tax, fraud-prevention and claims requirements. In practice:

• a reservation on a departure that never reaches GoAhead is kept for a short period after the date closes, and then deleted or anonymised, unless it is needed for a dispute;
• confirmed booking and payment records are kept for the period required by Egyptian tax and commercial law;
• passport details and copies are deleted once the service they were collected for has been delivered, unless a law requires us to keep them for longer;
• health and accessibility information is deleted shortly after the tour ends, unless an incident or claim requires us to keep it;
• customer-service messages and complaints are kept for the period during which a related claim could be brought;
• a marketing subscription is kept until you opt out, after which we keep a minimal record so that your opt-out is respected; and
• analytics and security logs are kept for the limited periods set in the relevant tool.

When data is no longer required we delete, anonymise or securely isolate it, subject to backup cycles and legal holds. Anonymised statistical data may be kept because it no longer identifies anyone.

10. Security

We use proportionate administrative, organizational and technical safeguards, including access controls, role-based permissions, encrypted connections, provider security reviews, backups, logging and staff confidentiality measures. No online system is completely secure, but we review our safeguards regularly.

If a personal-data breach creates a legal notification duty, we will notify the relevant authority and the affected individuals within the required period.

11. Your privacy rights

Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have the right to:

• ask whether we process your data and obtain a copy;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
• request deletion;
• restrict processing;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests, or to direct marketing;
• withdraw consent;
• receive certain data in a portable format;
• object to, or request review of, certain solely automated decisions; and
• complain to a competent data-protection authority.

To exercise a right, email hello@sawa.tours and describe your request. We may ask for information necessary to verify your identity, and we will respond within the period required by the applicable law. Rights can have exceptions — for example, we may need to retain records for tax, legal claims or fraud prevention.

You may also complain to the data-protection regulator in your country of residence or work.

12. Marketing choices

We distinguish booking and safety messages from marketing. You cannot opt out of messages necessary to administer an active reservation or booking, but you can unsubscribe from marketing at any time using the link in an email or by contacting us.

We will not add a partner-supplied traveler to Sawa marketing merely because that partner shared data in order to operate a departure. Separate valid permission, or another lawful basis, is required.

13. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies, local storage and similar technologies as described in our Cookie Policy, which lists each one, what it does and how long it lasts, and explains how to block or delete them.

Strictly necessary technologies operate without consent because the site cannot work reliably without them. Everything else — functional and analytics — stays switched off until you turn it on through the cookie banner, and you can change your choices at any time through Cookie settings in the footer.

14. Embedded Sawa widget

A partner website may display Sawa departures through an embedded widget. When the widget loads, Sawa may receive ordinary network information such as your IP address, device and browser data, the referring domain, the widget configuration and a partner identifier. If you interact with the widget or reserve a seat, Sawa receives the information you enter and processes it as described in this Policy.

The partner remains responsible for its own website, cookies and privacy notice.

15. Children’s privacy

The Platform is intended for adults making travel arrangements. We do not knowingly allow anyone under 18 to create an account or make a booking independently. A parent or authorized adult may provide a child’s data where it is needed for a family booking; we use it only for the travel service, safety and legal requirements, and never for direct marketing to the child.

If you believe a child has provided data without proper authority, contact us so that we can investigate and delete it where appropriate.

16. Automated decisions

We do not make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects about you solely by automated means. Seat counts and the automatic GoAhead status are operational rules based on valid reservations, not profiling decisions about a traveler.

17. Third-party sites and services

The Platform may link to third-party websites or services whose privacy practices they control. Review their notices before supplying data. A link does not mean that Sawa controls or endorses their privacy practices.

18. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in law, in our providers or in our services. We publish the new version and update the date above. If a change materially affects how we use data already collected, we will give additional notice or seek consent where required.

19. Contact and complaints

Questions, requests and complaints may be sent to:

Privacy Contact, Sawa Tours
Email: hello@sawa.tours
Address: Flat 6, Floor 1, Block 1, Panorama Pyramids Building, El-Ahramat Street, Giza, Egypt
Telephone and WhatsApp: +20 109 284 7613