Egypt receives income of many people, directly or indirectly related to tourism, said Augustus Richard Norton, a specialist in Middle East at Boston University. And this activity is obviously very sensitive to the country’s stability. Although does help it us.UU. and the Suez Canal revenues are critical sources of national income, Norton said: the tourism sector is much more important than the other two somewhat. One of every five Egyptians living in poverty in a country where the estimated per capita income was $6,200 last year.
And tourism, which employs 2 million Egyptians, represents 11% of the economic output of the nation. In 2009, grossed $10.8 billion, according to figures from the Egyptian Ministry of tourism. In 2010, 15 million tourists made their trips to Egypt, 362,000 of them coming from the United States.The U.S., according to the Egyptian tourism authority. The protests against President Hosni Mubarak, flared up just during the main tourist season, when the winter temperatures are cooler and the visitors come to see the pyramids or relax in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea. Thousands of foreign visitors, including hundreds of Americans, have already fled. Thousands more are trying to get out. The Egyptian Tourism Authority said in an e-mail that while unrest is having a negative impact on tourism, by now, once (the) situation is resolved, a quick recovery will be possible.
Egypt has been recovered from other violent incidents, as in 1997, when 58 tourists and four Egyptians were killed near a temple in Luxor. Americans are more sensitive, said Ady Gelber, owner of Isramworld, one of the largest travel agencies offering services such as packages and travel from the United States.UU. to Egypt. However, Gelber said: generally speaking, American tourists have little memory when it comes to the incidents. Approximately half of the Gelber customers who planned to travel to Egypt in the next three months are trying to change their plans, he said.
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