King Tut Helps Egypt Net $100 Million in Revenue
Zahi Hawass tells BusinessWeek that the touring exhibits including the King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs exhibition have netted Egypt $100 million USD since 2005. Considering that none of the major coffins or the ultimate, iconic piece the Death Mask are included in these shows (click here to see where they're hiding) it is quite an impressive yield for brand Tut and Egypt Inc. (King Tut's contracts are worth about as much as the world's most highly paid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo).
Even more interesting perhaps, is that Egypt used to pay to send artefacts around the world and now Hawass, with partners like entertainment and sports event operator AEG, has converted that into a new business unit.
Maybe really what is being discussed about the Nefertiti Bust is a revenue share deal? Is there a pay-per-view deal for the Rosetta Stone? You have to want to agree with him when he says: "If I had managed the old exhibits, Egypt would be rolling in money."
You might however, be less inclined to agree with some of his more provacative, politically oriented comments about Egyptian ancient culture such as "these artifacts remind us we were once a superpower." Read the whole BusinessWeek article here (and since BW won't let you leave comments, you can do that below if you have something to share).
Nonetheless, I don't think that Egyptian heritage will be over-exposed anytime soon. The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) might, when it is built, be the ultimate statement of both entertainment, education and cultural pride. Egypt seems to be able to endlessly provide us with things to explore. Ok, it may not be for us to find a lost tomb, but our personal journeys are out there. From the giant pyramids to the amazingly detailed artefacts we can all spend time to learn and make our own discoveries.
And if you want a new tech experience to enhance your sense of adventure you can visit Tut's tomb and see the amazing golden coffins and stunning alabaster objects right now in our virtual, online area: King Tut Virtual. It will be a lot less difficult for you to find KV62 on our grid than it was for Carnarvon and Carter back in 1922!
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Austrialian Museum director Frank Howarth recently passed on a $10 million/6 months for a King Tut exhibition. They've organised an 'alternative Egypt' exhibition, without King Tut. I guess it's kinda like with rock festivals; if you want to see Metallica headline (over and over and over again) you pay the price, else you can go to a smaller festival, where you discover lots of - often fairly unknown - musical treasures. Often the beer is cheaper at those smaller events too. ;)
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