Tourism damaging Egyptian heritage

http://tinyurl.com/ycxyke (reuters.co.uk)

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1618462006

Michael Jones, of the American Research Centre in Egypt, and Gaballa Ali Gaballa, a former head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities highlighted the problems of managing the impacts of tourism on Egypt's heritage at the meeting of the British Egyptian Society and the London Middle East Institute on Wednesday, with careless scuffing and moisture from breath and perspiration being two of the main problems: "Booming tourism, a key part of Egypt's economy, is having a catastrophic effect on the country's unique cultural heritage, experts said on Wednesday.

So large were the numbers of people now visiting Egypt's famed ancient sites like the Valley of the Kings that they were causing serious damage in a way that even centuries of weather had failed to do, they said at a meeting in London. . . . After tailing off sharply following a string of attacks by militant Islamists in the 1990s, tourist numbers in Egypt climbed to eight million in 2004 and up again to 8.6 million last year.
Figures from the Egyptian Tourism Authority show that in the first six months of this year tourist numbers were 12 percent up on the same period the previous year, and there are plans to boost numbers to 16 million by 2014."

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