Lingering security void devastates tourism in Luxor

The absence of security poses a significant challenge to the tourism industry in Luxor, a main tourist center in Egypt.

“Tourism police don’t provide adequate safety measures for the temples and the historic sites,” said a tour guide named Ahmed Saeed. “There were many cases of tourists being harassed in the street and the police don’t intervene.”

Since the end of January, the city’s temples have been subjected to various attacks from looters. The most prominent case was an attack at Karnak Temple in which bystanders apprehended the culprits.

However, no significant case of vandalism has been reported in Luxor – unlike Aswan, where looters attempted to steal a statue of Ramses II, but were chased away by people and guards at the site.

But in June, number of thugs attacked a residential compound for touristsin the Aswan. After destroying its wall, they were apprehended by workers in the compound.

“This is the worst scenario, to have other bloody attacks. After this incident, many tourists left the city. Tourists come here to enjoy and the first condition of enjoying is being safe. Police should appear permanently,” said Ahmed Sabry, a Luxor-based tour guide in his thirties.

The absence of police has caused tourists to disappear, say local tourist workers.

Some argue that this season is the worst tourist season since the massacre of tourists in 1997, when six men gunned down 62 people at mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut.