When foreign travelers believe they are safe, Egypt’s tour-
ism has been successful. In 2000, tourism brought in $4.3 bil-
lion, accounting for about 11 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic
product. More than 2 million Egyptians have jobs directly
related to tourism, and millions more receive some trickle-
down benefit from the money foreign tourists spend. But those
livelihoods and benefits are unreliable. Whenever there is a ter-
rorist incident in Egypt, in the Middle East, or abroad (but with
connections to the Middle East), tourism to Egypt drops off.
It usually rebounds, but only slowly. The most serious down-
turn in tourism came after the attacks on the United States