In the weeks since I left Egypt, there have been two terrorist attacks at places I visited – a shooting at the Pyramids on June 3 that killed two guards and a suicide bombing at the temple of Karnak today in which two of the three perpetrators were killed.
The intent of the perpetrators seems to be less about harming tourists as it is about harming the tourism industry. A grisly attack in November 1997 at the Temple of Hatshepsut – just across the river from Karnak – caused a precipitous drop in tourism to Egypt from which it is still struggling to recover. The late-2000s economic slowdown compounded the problem, and the two most recent revolutions have left the Egyptian tourism industry a shell of what it used to be.
The attacks of the past two weeks will continue this trend in Egypt, and it will be a very long time before more than the most adventurous travellers venture back.
