EGYPT: Unrest leaves the Pyramids deserted as the army guards the country's most famous landmark, where hardly a tourist can be seen

Record ID: 644949

  • Title: EGYPT: Unrest leaves the Pyramids deserted as the army guards the country's most famous landmark, where hardly a tourist can be seen
  • Date: 7th February 2011
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (FEBRUARY 6, 2011) (REUTERS) ANCIENT PYRAMID SPHINX ARMOURED VEHICLE GUARDING THE PYRAMID MORE OF ARMOURED VEHICLE TOURISTS ON CAMELS TOUR GUIDE ON CARRIAGE MORE OF THE HORSE AND CARRIAGE DOING THE TOUR MORE OF TOURISTS ON CAMELS PYRAMIDS FROM BEHIND FENCE VARIOUS OF THE PYRAMIDS TOURISTS ON CARRIAGE LOOKING ON PYRAMIDS PYRAMID VIEW OF CAIRO CITY FROM PYRAMIDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TOUR GUIDE, MOHAMMED, SAYING: "Usually these days, there are many tourists doing this tour, going on carriages and visiting the pyramids from the back and taking some photographs. But inside there is nobody except the police and the army. They decided to close it." TOURISTS ON CAMELS ARRIVING TO VISIT PYRAMIDS ANCIENT PYRAMIDS
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt, Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA63CZW8TNPKS8WBASNMLJXFMPT
  • Story Text: It could be a dream come true for any tourist exasperated with the thronging crowds that usually pullulate around one of the great wonders of the world, the Giza Pyramids: empty stretches of sand, devoid of visitors on Sunday (February 6).
    But for Egyptians working in the tourist industry and who are watching their economy crumble because of the mass protests, clashes and fleeing tourists, this scene is heartbreakingly bad for business.
    Unfortunately, the few intrepid travelers who do brave the social unrest and the risk of a collapsing president are forced to stand at some distance from the national treasure, which is kept behind locked gates and guarded by military vehicles.
    There were fears that the unrest could lead to the kind of looting that saw a large part of Iraq's national treasures vanish in 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
    But the top Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's antiquities authority since 2002 and now a new cabinet ministers since last week, said in a BBC interview on Sunday: "The Valley of the Kings is safe, the pyramids are safe, 24 museums are safe, the synagogues and the monasteries and the Muslim monuments are completely safe."
    The situation in Egypt is relatively stable, compared to the first days of mass demonstrations and ensuing clashes.
    But the United Nations believes 300 people were killed in the violence and visitors won't take the risk leaving the remaining visitors free to roam in relative solitude amongst the vast sandy stretch of the pyramids.
    The drop in tourist numbers since the start of anti-government protests last week is worrying local traders who depend on visitors for their livelihoods.
    More than one million visitors in Egypt for the beaches, the pyramids and museums fled the tumult and flocked to airports to find calmer shores whilst those planning to come cancelled their trip. This has dealt a heavy blow to the Egyptian economy and its tourism industry.
    Mubarak, dubbed "Pharaoh" by some Egyptians, has portrayed himself to Western allies and his own people as a bulwark of stability -- an image many have accepted in return for a government criticised as repressive, brutal and corrupt.
    Perhaps unsurprisingly, sympathy for the pro-democracy demonstrators who have tried to unseat Mubarak is in short supply among the guides and stallholders of Giza.
    "Usually these days, there are many tourists doing this tour, going on carriages and visiting the pyramids from the back and taking some photographs. But inside there is nobody except the police and the army. They decided to close it," said one the guides called Mohammed.
    Giza's pyramids, 15 km (10 miles) from Tahrir Square downtown, was much too quiet for the liking of the locals, some of whom felt Mubarak, in promising to stand down later in the year, had done the right thing and that protests should now end.
    The dusty streets near the pyramids, usually bustling with camels, perfume vendors and sunburned visitors, were mostly deserted.
    The tourism industry has grown steadily over the last decade, weathering bomb attacks on resorts in the Sinai peninsula. Over 12 million tourists visited in Egypt in 2009, earning the country nearly 11 billion US dollars in revenue.
    But after 13 days of unrest, the Egyptian government said the country lost more than 1 billion US dollars in tourism revenue and one million tourists had left during the turmoil which has smashed the country's image a safe place to visit.
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