A new beginning for Egyptian tourism

Al Masry Al Youm (Mohamed Elshahed)

In the recent flurry of reports about Egypt’s impending economic challenges, many have highlighted the damage done to the tourism sector in the wake of the 25 January revolution. The number of tourists who’ve come to Egypt in the first quarter of this fiscal year is down 46 percent from last year. Despite this significant drop the streets of downtown Cairo still seem to have a sizeable number of foreigners.

Sitting at Stella Bar or at the cafés around Townhouse Gallery, it seems as though there is no tourism crisis. That’s because many tourists who frequent these downtown destinations are not the ones targeted by the state’s international tourism campaign.