Cairo City Map Poster

About Cairo

Cairo is a very popular tourist destination, attracting millions of tourists each year to its famous historical sites such as the Giza pyramid complex and the Great Sphinx, including Luxor. Cairo's tourism industry has been growing steadily since the 1990s; many foreign nationals reside in the city due to its relative safety and security compared with other Egyptian cities. Hotels are an important contributor to Egypt's economy; Cairo had around 1 million hotel rooms in 2010. The government has invested heavily in recent years on cultural infrastructure projects that have helped revitalize downtown Cairo – notably al-Azhar Park (also known as "the Green Zone"), which houses several major museums alongside gardens and walkways along the Nile riverfront, where families gather for picnics during weekends.[citation needed] The central part of old downtown ("al-Maristan") is being reconstructed as well—a new district will include a pedestrianized shopping street linking Tahrir Square with Qasr el Eyni Street near Bab Zuweila.