I spent three weeks in Egypt in 2007. After reading this and seeing the video that you embedded in your story, it's as if I went to a totally different country.

I experienced absolutely nothing like this anywhere I went, and that includes Cairo (as in the video) and Aswan, where you were based for your writing.

It makes me wonder if things have changed for the worse bcause of Covid.

You mentioned Morocco and similar problems. I have been to Morocco twice: 2000 and 2012. There was a huge change for the better in the intervening years, as all of the harassment of tourists, which was prevalent in 2000 had totally stopped in 2012. When I asked a few people about it, they said that the government informed the shopkeepers that tourists didn't like being harassed, and that they needed to stop it.

As a result, all of the beckoning to come into shops (2000) was replaced by shopkeepers standing outside their shops and simply making eye contact and smiling, in 2012.