The revolution has touched the lives of Egyptians working in various industries. Al-Ahram Weekly listens to some personal accounts Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, a 26-year-old with two kids, is one of five million Egyptians who work in the tourism industry. He used to work as a waiter in one of Sharm El-Sheikh's famous hotels since 2008. Just before the revolution, he received a 10 per cent raise thanks to the increasing profits the hotel he worked for was witnessing. Egypt's tourism industry had been flourishing. The number of tourism companies was increasing steadily and their workers' ranks swelled. New sites were established for the growing number of tourists that reached approximately 14.5 million in 2010 alone. Nonetheless, Abdel -Aziz was "very happy when the revolution erupted and ended a 30-year-long rule of dictatorship in just 18 days," Abdel-Aziz asserted. "I thought everything would be better than before, even in our already blossoming industry. But that did not happen at all." Like many hotels reportedly did, Abdel-Aziz says that when tourists started to fade away, the first decision was to cut staff salaries by half. "I had many obligations to fulfil but I could not meet them which caused many troubles for me." Besides, he added, as a waiter he relied on customers' tips for about 30 per cent of his income. The political and security instability, which riddled Egypt since the revolution started, has forced tourists to make tough decisions: leave Egypt in a hurry if they were already here, cancel their reservations, or postpone any plans to visit the country that prides itself on being one of the most famous ancient civilisations, as well as having attractive beaches. "Even when tourists started to flow again at satisfying numbers, the salary did not get back to normal," he stated, adding that the reason expressed by the hotel manager was that he was "not sure if that would continue, and that the losses had not been covered yet." Despite fluctuations in the flow of tourists throughout 2011, the number never returned to pre-revolution levels. Egypt's Minister of Tourism Mounir Abdel-Nour puts the number of tourists who have visited Egypt in 2011 at 10.6 million. Recently, Abdel-Aziz says, the accumulation of losses led the hotel owner to lay off many workers. "Suddenly, I find myself unemployed, unable to feed my family. And I could not find any other job in Egypt." The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced in May that the unemployment rate had risen to 11.9 per cent as opposed to 8.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2010. "One of my friends, who also used to be a waiter but left his job two months ago, is now working in Kuwait and he helped me find a job there," Abdel-Aziz said. "He saved my life." Abdel-Aziz, who will travel to Kuwait for his new job next week, says he hopes he can come back to Egypt, but he believes that it will not be any time soon since "the tourism industry will suffer in 2012 because of the parliamentary and presidential elections, which will make many tourists wait to see how the new government can restore security and stability." Ahmed Kotb By Ahmed Kotb
