In the shadow of the Grand Egyptian Museum, souvenir shop owner Mona has been readying for the tourist boom she hoped the long-awaited opening would bring -- now once again out of reach.

"I had bet everything on this opening," she told AFP from her shop, just steps from the iconic pyramids of Giza, which the much-anticipated museum overlooks.

Originally scheduled to fully open this month, the museum was expected to attract up to five million visitors annually, fuelling optimism across Cairo's battered tourism sector.

"We planned our entire summer and fall packages around the museum opening," said Nadine Ahmed, a 28-year-old agent with Time Travel tours.

"But with group cancellations, refunds and route changes, we've lost tens of thousands of dollars."

Though parts of the museum have been open for months, the main draw -- the treasures of Tutankhamun -- will remain........

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