The Importance of Tourism to Egypt's Future: The New Yorker One of the biggest threats to Egypt's future may be the beleaguered state of its tourism industry. In 2010, the year before the revolution began, fourteen million international tourists visited the country, leaving behind the equivalent of thirteen billion U.S. dollars. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Egypt's tourism industry accounted for eleven per cent of the country's G.D.P. that year. The same report shows that in the first quarter of 2011, when popular uprisings forced out the former President Hosni Mubarak, international tourism declined by forty-five per cent. Egypt's economic woes are one of the reasons that the revolution has unwound so dramatically - with the military removing the President and suspending the constitution last week - and the ailing tourism industry is a significant part of the problem. The causes are circular: for tourism to improve, the country needs to be safe and peaceful, but the lack of an existing tourism business weakens the economy and makes that harder to achieve. Already there are reports that the present instability has made tourism workers desperate for customers. Newly issued travel advisories won't help. The United States Department of State is warning Americans to depart, and has ordered non-emergency government personnel to leave, as well. Britain has also advised against all but essential travel to Egypt. Still, there are reasons for hope. Even after two-and-a-half years of civil and political uncertainty, the tourism sector employs about ten per cent of Egypt's workforce. And the industry has proven resilient before, plodding a slow recovery after tourists were targeted and killed in 1997 at Luxor, and again in 2005 in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Last year, Egypt's international tourism receipts made a partial recovery, improving by fourteen per cent over the disastrous 2011, and ranking the country ahead of Croatia and Brazil. Amid the current chaos, a second year of recovery, and the economic and political stability that depends on it, seems increasingly unlikely. Illustration by Larry Buchanan.