Egypt pins its tourism hopes on new museum

Cairo opens Grand Egyptian Museum with goal to draw 7 million visitors a year; tourism a vital source of foreign currency for Egypt

- HATEM MAHER

Egyptian officials are hoping the inauguration of a vast new museum today will accelerate the revival of a tourism industry hampered for more than a decade by internal upheaval, a pandemic and regional conflicts.

Officials believe the Grand Egyptian Museum, or Gem, alone could draw as many as 7 million additional visitors annually after it opens today, helping boost total visitors to around 30 million by 2030.

Overlooking the Giza Pyramids, the 500,000-square-metre edifice will house tens of thousands of artefacts, including what is billed as the complete collection of the treasures of the boy-king Tutankhamun, many displayed for the first time.

The new space includes immersive exhibits and virtual-reality devices, in contrast to cluttered, old-fashioned displays in the older Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. Egypt, which has needed repeated bailouts to stabilise its economy, uses the foreign currency it collects from tourism to pay for crucial imports such as fuel and wheat.

CULTURAL TOURISM