CAIRO - About 80 per cent of the gift shops in the 14th-century Khan el-Khalili bazaar have been closed since January 25, when the Egyptian revolution broke out, ending the 30-year-rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The shop owners, who complain that they have no customers, have plenty of time to contemplate a difficult future. Instead of buses ferrying tourists to this famous market, the plaza outside el-Hussein Mosque in Islamic Cairo has been bereft of customers for over a month, Suhair Muhager, one of these shop owners, says. "I have not sold anything," adds Suhair, whose shop sells hand-made Egyptian artefacts. "At this time of the year, there were normally plenty of tourists coming to Khan el-Khalili. But today there are none.” Across the country, hotel occupancy rates have fallen, forcing some establishments to dismiss workers or even close down. The prospect of rising unemployment is daunting for a country that depends on tourism to provide direct and indirect jobs for 12.3 per cent of the workforce and to contribute about 7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). "A lot of shops are laying off workers," Suhair explains. However, the coffee shops in Khan el-Khalili haven't been faring so badly, staying open for business till 11pm, one hour before the 12am to 6am curfew comes into force. Ismail Sayyed Kamel, a waiter in the famous el-Fishawi coffee shop, says that lots of people are still coming to drink tea and smoke shisha. “However, despite this, business has slowed, especially at night, since the unrest started in late January. We've had hardly any Arab and foreign tourists since January 25," he explains.
