As a mysterious and beautiful resort, Egypt attracts MILLIONS of tourists from around World.

However, now, people visiting the Egyptian capital say they have witnessed scenes of protest and police using tear gas on the streets of Cairo as Egyptians demand their president resign.

Egypt, home of the pyramids and the Sphinx, hosts millions of tourists bringing billions of US dollars in revenue every year.

As tourists arrived at their Cairo hotels,they were surprised to find the city the scene of dramatic protests.

Australian Tourist, said, "Well we arrived yesterday morning, and we didn't know this was going on and then last night it was just pretty crazy, like everybody was just coming from all different directions and throwing things everywhere and we were just like 'oh what are we going to do our apartment's going to blow up or something!'"

Others got a bit closer to the action.

US Tourist, said, "Never seen anything like it before.I walked out into the crowds and kind of saw what was going on, there was a lot of, I don't know, tear gas. It was the first time I've ever smelt tear gas,that was interesting. But it was definitely unlike anything I've ever seen before."

Tourists were still able to visit some of the sites in and around the Egyptian capital.

But the Egyptian military closed tourist access to the pyramids.

Raimon Braidy, Tourist, said, "We just arrived yesterday,so just before the riots started.This is the first place we tried to visit now this morning. It's closed, unfortunately. They're turning back everybody. So we just accept it and say, ok. They said tomorrow it will be open so we hope that we can come back tomorrow."

Foreign tourists and Egyptians also began flocking to Cairo's main airport,trying to find flights out of the country.

Between 1,500 and two-thousand travellers were at the two main departure terminals, most without reservations.