In Photos: Highs and Lows of Egypt’s 2021 Effort to Boost Tourism

Visitors zipline at a church site in the hills near Cairo, Jan. 6, 2021. After a 70% drop in Egypt’s tourism revenue in 2020, officials focused the year on rebuilding the industry. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Workers who lost their tourism-related jobs over the past two years tell VOA that they now rely on the agricultural sector for survival, in Luxor, Egypt, April 9, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

In an effort to boost tourism, Egyptian officials parade 22 royal mummies across Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, in Cairo, April 3, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Egypt’s run-down railway system sees hundreds of accidents each year, including a series of crashes last spring that killed dozens, injured hundreds, and disrupted travel for workers and domestic tourists, in Banha, April 18, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Government officials accused "extremists and drug abusers" of sabotaging these train tracks, prompting fears among international and local tourists., in Banha, April 18, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

An art exhibit at the Great Pyramids of Giza, the first of its kind, shows works by Brazilian artist João Trevisan and other artists, in Giza, Oct 21, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Flames consume a floating Nile restaurant, Aug 8, 2021, in Cairo. The blaze was reportedly caused by a short circuit during a heatwave. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Workers who lost their tourism-related jobs say Egypt’s “New Administrative Capital,” a sprawling multibillion-dollar city under construction east of Cairo, has created some work for their struggling sector, Oct 24, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Egyptian officials attend the reopening ceremony for Luxor’s “Avenue of Sphinxes,” in Luxor, Nov 25, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Major state-affiliated newspapers accuse the government of wasting money on propaganda for the tourism industry, without improving income and jobs for tourism workers. Compilation created Dec. 13, 2021, in Cairo. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)