CAIRO: Workers from Egypt’s key tourism industry held a protest on Monday by the Great Pyramids to demand higher wages, part of a surge of protests and strikes following the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
Around 150 workers employed in the tourist industry — which was badly hit by anti-government protests that paralyzed the country for nearly three weeks — demonstrated at the Giza plateau, outside Cairo, an AFP photographer saw.
Tourism accounts for 6 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product, and February would normally be the height of the holiday season.
The sector brought in $13 billion in 2010, with a record 15 million people taking their holidays in the Land of the Pharaohs.
Strikes by government employees have erupted throughout the country to demand higher wages and benefits, despite Egypt’s newly-formed government vowing to raise public sector salaries and pensions by 15 percent.
