From The Conversation

Since Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt (1798-1801), Western interest in the country – and especially its ancient history – has never waned. Recent evidence includes the exhibition Osiris: Egypt’s Sunken mysteries, which has already attracted more than 200,000 visitors to the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. The British Museum’s fresh presentation of eight of the mummies in its collection – Ancient Lives, New Discoveries – attracted similar numbers throughout 2014 and 2015. Meanwhile, the Met Museum in New York has just wrapped up the first major exhibition to cover the Middle Kingdom period extensively.

In Egypt, it’s an entirely different story. Despite its exceptional cultural heritage, the country has been having a hard time attracting visitors since the 2011 revolution that brought down the former president Hosni Mubarak. Much of the blame can be placed on a series of terrorist attacks, including the October 31 bombing of a Russian airliner. Foreign ministries of a number of major Western countries now discourage their citizens from visiting parts of Egypt.

Sensational projects

In an attempt to revive Egypt’s crucial tourism industry, its government has launched a series of sensational projects. The minister of antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, is omnipresent in the media, and often appears at projects accompanied by domestic and international Egyptologists. The most highly publicised event was the radar study of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The analyses prompted the minister to say they were “90% sure” that there were hidden chambers, reviving fantasies around the tomb of the young king that was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter.

Read more at  The Conversation