USA TODAY
November 22, 1999, Monday, FINAL EDITION
NEWS; Pg. 6A
Crash could damage Egypt's tourism industry
Marco R. della Cava
CAIRO, Egypt -- Some fear that another casualty from the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 could be this country's tourism industry, which is second only to oil as the nation's prime source of foreign revenue.
Each year, about 4 million tourists contribute an estimated $ 4 billion to the Egyptian economy, mostly during the peak season,
which runs from November through April. Egypt only recently rebounded from the tragedy of Nov. 17, 1997, when six terrorists massacred 58 tourists in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, an hour flight south of Cairo.
One of the more cynical conspiracy theories floating about suggests that Israel engineered the crash to divert tourists from Egypt to its millennial celebrations.
"This is so people will choose Jerusalem over Cairo," student Mohammed el-Askari says. "It's a war against EgyptAir."
If so, it's not working, judging from interviews with U.S. tourists visiting Cairo's famed museum of antiquities, home of the King Tut treasures.
"I had no hesitation in coming," says travel agent Linda Boerner of Tampa, who flew here on EgyptAir. "I think it's likely the
pilot, not mechanical."
Christine Vaughn of Fort Wayne, Ind., who doesn't have a theory about the crash, took her flight on EgyptAir because it operates non-stop service from New York.
"I've wanted to come here since I was a little girl," she says. "No way was I going to postpone."
Hers is a popular sentiment. "There are no rooms available all over Egypt," says Ahmed Badawi, a manager at the Egyptrav office in Cairo. "We don't think the crash will have any affect on us."
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