Sawt Falasteen - Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold

"I had bet everything on this opening," she told AFP from her shop, just steps from the iconic pyramids of Giza, which the much-anticipated museum overlooks.

Originally scheduled to fully open this month, the museum was expected to attract up to five million visitors annually, fuelling optimism across Cairo's battered tourism sector.

"We planned our entire summer and fall packages around the museum opening," said Nadine Ahmed, a 28-year-old agent with Time Travel tours.

"But with group cancellations, refunds and route changes, we've lost tens of thousands of dollars."

Though parts of the museum have been open for months, the main draw -- the treasures of Tutankhamun -- will remain under wraps until the official launch.

Less than three weeks before its July 3 opening, the government announced another delay, this time pushing the landmark event to the final quarter of the year.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly cited regional security concerns and the desire to host an event of "global scale".

- Decades in the making -

The vast museum, two decades in the making, has faced repeated delays -- from political upheaval and economic crises to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of the expected launch, Mona, who asked to be identified by her first name only, took out a loan to renovate her store and stock up on goods inspired by the museum's collection.

A few streets away, Mohamed Mamdouh Khattab, 38, prepared months in advance, hiring and training extra staff and expanding his inventory.

"The opening of the museum is a key milestone," said Khattab, who owns a sprawling bazaar of handcrafted jewellery and ancient replicas.

"It's a project that should have been launched a long time ago," said the vendor, whose family has been in the industry since the 1970s.

Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Egypt's workforce, but the sector has struggled -- from the fallout of the 2011 Arab Spring to militant attacks and the Covid shutdown.

Still, signs of recovery have emerged: Egypt welcomed 3.9 million tourists in the first quarter of 2025, up 25 percent from the same period last year -- itself a record.

- Fragility -

At a Giza papyrus workshop, 30-year-old tour guide Sara Mahmoud hopes the opening will revive visitor numbers.

"Big openings have brought a lot of tourism to Egypt before," she said, pointing to the 2021 Pharaohs' Golden Parade and the reopening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

"These events get people excited -- we saw the crowds coming in."

Such momentum could make a real difference, said Ragui Assaad, an economist at the University of Minnesota.

"Any initiative that directly increases foreign exchange earnings is likely to have a good return on investment," he told AFP.

"If you compare it with all the other mega-projects, which do not increase foreign exchange earnings... this is a far better project."

He was referring to a sweeping infrastructure drive under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, including the construction of a massive new administrative capital east of Cairo.

The stakes are high: since 2022, Egypt's currency has lost two-thirds of its value, squeezing household budgets and straining every layer of the economy.

"There were days when I sold just one bracelet," Mona lamented, thinking back to the years when "tourists arrived in droves".

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST