Egypt's tourism collapse

Tourists are avoiding traditional Middle East attractions

		By Frank Gardner BBC Middle East Correspondent

The attacks of 11 September and the ensuing war in Afghanistan have dealt a heavy blow to Egypt's once thriving tourist industry.

The government's biggest revenue earner has slumped as thousands of Americans and Europeans have cancelled their reservations, too afraid to fly to the Arab world.

In the Egyptian town of Abu Simbel, in the warm breeze of the late afternoon, the colossal pharaonic statues of Rameses II stand guard over an empty landscape.

This is winter, supposedly the peak tourist season. But here I have the place almost to myself.

The few tourists who come to Abu Simbel are mostly flying in for two hours, then flying out on the same day. The luxury hotel that was built to receive them stands nearly empty.

Statue of Rameses and other temples have armed guards

The Euro-pop that blasts from the swimming pool speakers plays out to rows of empty deckchairs - Egypt's tourism industry is in trouble.

Since the 11 September, the reservations have dropped by over 50%. International tour groups are cancelling their bookings, steering clear of the Middle East.

For Egypt it's a disaster. Tourism earned the government over $4bn dollars last year, and more than two million Egyptians work in the industry.

Since Islamist extremists killed more than 50 tourists in Luxor four years ago, the authorities have taken massive security precautions at all the sites.

Increased security

Black uniformed soldiers stand guard at the ruins, clutching rusty assault rifles. Trucks carrying reserve reinforcements stand parked in the shade, beside the Pyramids, museums and temples.

In the lobbies of tourist hotels, x-ray machines frame the entrances, bags are searched by smiling apologetic officials.

The government may have won the battle against the Islamist insurgence in the 1990's, but it's still taking no chances.

It's clearly doing all it can to persuade tourists that this is a safe country to visit.

And yet now, it's efforts appear to be in vain.

Today Egypt is peaceful, its prices are comparatively cheap, but its tourist industry, like its pharaonic temples, is in ruins.

Now with so many Egyptian workers out of a job, poverty looms for countless families.

Egyptians usually bear this with good-natured stoicism, but in the past, violent Islamist extremists have found fertile ground for their ideas in the poor quarters of Egypt's cities.

The fear for the government is that they could do so again.