The Giza pyramids and temples in Luxor and Aswan are open in the wake of Mubarak's departure, and several governments eased their travel warnings to reflect the fact that Sharm el-Sheikh and other Red Sea resorts on the Sinai Peninsula have remained largely isolated from the country's political turmoil.
Hundreds of tour guides gathered Monday at the nearly deserted Great Pyramid of Giza near Cairo. Their Valentine's Day message, written on banners in English, French, German and Russian: "Egypt loves you."
Egypt's crucial tourism industry draws 14.7 million visitors a year, accounts for one out of every eight jobs and represents 11% of the nation's economic output. But it has collapsed in the wake of pro-democracy demonstrations that began three weeks ago.
Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman estimated tourism-related losses at $1 billion during the first nine days of protests, which have coincided with the country's peak winter season. And ElSayed Khalifa, director of the Egyptian Tourist Authority in New York, said Monday that the economic impact from canceled U.S. trips could top $50 million by the end of March. A record 361,000 Americans visited last year, a 12.5% boost from 2009 and the sixth year-over-year increase.
Following a State Department warning against U.S. travel to Egypt, issued on Feb. 6 and still in effect, tour companies have canceled departures through at least February. In an informal member poll by the United States Tour Operators Association after Pres. Hosni Mubarak's resignation on Friday, six of the 13 respondents said it was still too soon to tell when they would resume trips, and the tourist authority's Khalifa admitted his own promotional efforts "would not be successful as long as the (travel) warnings are still there."
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