CAIRO, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Some tourists have visited Egyptian sites recently but it will take some time before tourism regains the foothold it once had, officials said.
The antiquities museum in Cairo has reopened and some visitors ventured out to see the Great Pyramids, the Voice of America reported Monday.
Tourism was hit hard after the beginning of demonstrations that resulted in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
Masood Ahmed, director of the International Monetary Fund's Middle East and Central Asia Department, said it would take some time before tourists return to the region.
"The recent popular protests in Egypt will definitely have a short-term economic cost," Ahmed said. "In particular, we will see tourism and investment going down and certainly the 5.5 percent growth rate that we saw in the last two quarters of 2010 will likely be considerably lower in the next six months or so while the situation stabilizes."
