Authoritarian govts are not known for taking kindly to criticism. And in Egypt, official skins can be especially thin: deepening repression has muffled most dissent and sent tens of thousands of perceived political opponents to jail, including one for posting a doctored photo of the president with Mickey Mouse ears. But this month, Egypt found itself facing an opponent it could not silence so easily.
IPL 2025 mega auction IPL Auction 2025: Who got whom IPL 2025 Auction: Updated Full Team Squads "Cairo Airport: Is There a Worse Major Airport?" the travel blogger Ben Schlappig pondered in a no-holds-barred post on his website, One Mile at a Time. He cited the "actively hostile and rude" staff, the "endless requests for tips," the "disorder" in line, the "weak" dining options and the "yuck" lounges. As if salting the wound, he ended by comparing Cairo's airport unfavourably with that of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, with which Egypt is locked in a yearslong dispute over water rights.
It was a verdict almost guaranteed to enrage Egypt's govt, which is making a concerted push to double its tourism numbers, trying to reach 30 million annual visitors by 2028. Luxury hotels are going up . The govt has announced plans to refurbish historic attractions.
And a long-awaited new museum of antiquities is opening in stages next to Great Pyramids of Giza. Against this march of progress, Schlappig's complaints might seem like a minor annoyance. Yet Egypt's civil aviation ministry reac.