Egypt reels as tourists stay away
Source: Agencies |
April 1, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TOURISTS are staying away from Egypt two months after the start of a popular revolution that removed longtime president Hosni Mubarak. Their absence is dealing another blow to a nation already staggered by corruption and poverty.
Protesters compared Mubarak to the ancient Pharaohs. Their tombs, in timeworn and time-honored pyramids, rise majestically in Egypt's desert.
Now the sand-swept sites stand nearly empty. Turmoil during the pro-democracy revolution that overturned the government frightened tourists away.
Anti-government protests started on January 25. More than 210,000 tourists fled the country in the last week of January and the first few days of February.
The government has estimated that the unrest cost the nation about US$1.7 billion in the span of about two weeks, with more than half that figure stemming from tourism losses. The effects are dire. About 2 million Egyptians make their living from tourism - 5 to 6 percent of the gross domestic product.
Some new patterns are emerging while foreign tourists stay away.
The few tourists now in the country make pilgrimages to Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, where hundreds of thousands gathered in anti-government protests. Sidewalk merchants line the circumference of the square, hawking T-shirts, flags, hats, badges, and wall hangings dedicated to the revolution.
Egyptians are now visiting tourist sites once packed with European visitors.
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