Lethal Terrorist Attack Targets Egypt Economy

From the Pyramids at Giza to the cataracts at Aswan, a pall has fallen across Egypt’s tourism sites after the massacre of 58 visitors to Luxor as this nation struggles with grief and shame at the deed perpetrated against foreign guests on its soil.

“May God destroy the homes of these terrorists,” said Hesham Risk, 27, a copper and leather merchant in Cairo’s main bazaar, the Khan el Khalili, standing outside his empty shop. “Because of them, people will go hungry.”

Since the attack Nov. 17 at the Temple of Hatshepsut, the worst terrorist incident in modern Egyptian history, shock has begun to give way to gestures of remorse--including signs and banners thrown up in an impromptu display by tent makers and other vendors at the city bazaar.

“We are so sad for what happened in Luxor,” reads one banner stretched between two sides of a narrow lane that, like the rest of the market, is now bereft of tourists. The banner was signed: “The true Egyptian people.”

“No true Egyptian would humiliate a guest in his country,” said Sharif Abdul Karim, who sells papyrus products.

Hamza Alaa Din, a singer, made a point of expressing his grief at the grand opening in Aswan of the new Nubia Museum. Officials decided to go through with that event last weekend despite the killings.

“I have to apologize for the unthinkable that happened,” Alaa Din told the audience. “With this performance, we send condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. . . . I wish that they could be resurrected.”

While cynics might dismiss the banners and statements as a pragmatic attempt to lure back business, the merchants’ demeanor seems touchingly sincere. There is an almost palpable sense of regret. One of the few foreign visitors to the bazaar last week recounted how she found herself embraced like an old friend and offered a rose before she departed.

“This is what we really feel,” Karim said. “Those [who were killed] were peaceful people . . . here to spend a good time. This was no way to receive them. We consider tourists to be our friends, and this is no way to treat your friends.”

Moustaf Badin, an owner of a felucca, one of the graceful sailboats that ply the Nile for tourists for as little as $3 an hour, said the six killers, who died in a gun battle after the massacre, seemed to him to be totally at odds with the masses of Egyptians.

“People don’t believe in the ideas of these groups at all,” he insisted. “We want tourists to come--especially in Luxor and Aswan, where every house depends on tourism for its livelihood.”

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President Hosni Mubarak, who did not bother to hide his fury at the inadequate police protection at the temple in Luxor, dismissed his interior minister within 24 hours of the attack.

Now his successor is reportedly putting final touches on a plan for “air-tight” security at places frequented by tourists.

Nevertheless, the government and travel industry vendors are bracing for significant economic losses. Officials are only waiting to see how bad, and for how long, the drop-off in foreign visits will be.

Tourism is an important component of the national economy. Bringing in $3 billion a year, it is Egypt’s largest single source of hard currency. An estimated 10 million jobs in this country of 60 million are tied to the tourist trade directly or indirectly.

Until the Luxor massacre, government officials were bullishly projecting that the 4 million foreign visitors a year could be increased to 8 million in a decade. Now the prevailing hope is that, if the government can prevent future attacks, the tourist business will gradually get back to normal.

Tourism Minister Mamdouh Beltagi said he cannot provide accurate projections yet for the monetary losses, but an informal survey of several tour agencies indicated that business could be off by half this winter season, with visits to upper Egypt, where the Luxor attack occurred, down by as much as 90%.

A travel director for one of Egypt’s biggest tour operators, asking not to be named, said his company has had several cancellations and not a single new group booking since the attack.

“It has affected all the agencies. It is a very big blow,” he said.

“If this is the last incident, then in six months or so, tourists will start coming back,” predicted another agency owner, who has had six groups cancel on him. But he added pessimistically: “I don’t think this is the last incident. . . . I have a feeling there will be more.”

The country’s highest Sunni Muslim religious authority, echoing widespread sentiments, said the attackers who did all this damage could only have been “inspired by the devil.”

“They wanted not only to kill innocent tourists but also to kill all that is good for Egypt,” said Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the grand imam and sheik of Cairo’s 1,000-year-old Al Azhar Mosque.