CAIRO, EGYPT – Some terrorist attacks hit a country right where it hurts most – its economy.
Are you a world traveler? Or even a more local one? Do you enjoy going to places you have never been before, seeing sites you have always wanted to, try foods that are new to you? Maybe you are interested in a different culture and language.
There is no doubt that tourism is big – really big. According to the World Tourism Organisation, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to world GDP (gross domestic product) in 2018 was almost $3 TRILLION, or 3.2% of world GDP. In some nations it constitutes an even larger percentage of the economy.
Take Egypt, for example. The tourism industry contributes more than 12% of national GDP. That means a lot of visits to the Sphinx and the pyramids!
If this sector is so vital to the country’s economy it makes complete sense as to why terrorists would target it, no?
On this day in 1996
Seventeen Greek tourists and an Egyptian tour guide were killed by gunmen in Cairo when the attackers opened fire on a group outside the Europa Hotel. Another 15 were wounded, three seriously. The tourists had just arrived in Egypt from a Holy Land tour of Israel.
There were people lying dead outside the hotel and people injured on the floor crying and screaming.
Harry Poulianas, eye-witness
The Islamist terrorist group Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyah (AGAI) claimed the attack but lamely added it thought the visitors were Israelis. So, that was their excuse for killing 18 innocent people?
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