ANA NANCE (3)
GOLDEN MUMMIES
graphic Explorer-In-Residence.
“All the talk over the last six
months was just by people who hate
me,” says Hawass. “Not a single
accusation was correct. People are
jealous of success.”
The gift shop was removed, becoming
nothing more than a glass-walled exit.
Hawass was not only replaced as
Minister of Antiquities, but forced out
of his unofficial post as Egypt’s pitchman. The timing was less than ideal.
In the immediate aftermath of the
Cairo riots, hundreds of thousands
of tourists had rushed out of Egypt.
They hadn’t come back. The New York
Times reported in late February that
the occupancy rates in Luxor dropped
as low as 4 percent, down from an
average of 61 percent, even as popular beach resort Sharm el Sheik’s rate
dropped to eight from 70 percent.
It didn’t help that, even as the
government ran ads on TV stations
around the world, politicians publicly mulled bans on alcohol, bikinis
and non-halal food. Before it was
disbanded, Parliament was a hotbed
for such proposals, though they never made much progress.
“The media reported on these negative declarations, but when these statements were rejected the media has
not reported that,” Tourism Minister
Mounir Fakhry Abder el Nour complained at a recent press conference.
Democracy brought Islamic organizations previously known for the
HUFFINGTON
07.22.12
Charred ruins remain at the building that once housed
now-deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the
National Democratic Party in Cairo.