EGYPT'S once-booming tourist trade, deathly ill from the violence of Islamic militants, has turned for help to 11 of the land's biggest celebrities - themselves already dead for 3,000 years.
They are the royal mummies, the corpses of some of ancient Egypt's mightiest pharaohs and queens, including Ramses II, the greatest monument builder of them all. They were exhibited until 13 years ago, when then-President Anwar Sadat tucked them away out of respect for the dead.
Now, in a move that these savviest of statesmen might well appreciate, Egypt has put them back on display in a bid to save the country's sinking economy.
The much-heralded return of the royals recently to state-of-the art, environmentally monitored, nitrogen-filled, American-made display cases is but one of the government's salvos in its fight to revive tourism, gutted during the last two years amid a string of Islamic attacks.
Blaming a foreign media conspiracy, the government has launched a US$42 million marketing campaign to convince would-be visitors that much of the country is perfectly safe.
Although only four foreign visitors have been among 350 people killed by extremists or police during the uprising, the violence has been enough to send tourism into a tailspin.