Some reforms are already underway. The government is currently building a new visitor center at the pyramids, scheduled to open this summer, that is said to include a separate area for horse and camel rides.

According to some local news reports, the area will include facilities to feed, water and give medical treatment to horses and camels.

Tourism in Egypt, which was devastated after the turmoil of the 2011 Arab Spring protests, has enjoyed a strong bounce in the past few years. But the resurgence is fragile. Militant violence is the biggest worry, but bad publicity from animal cruelty could dent the trade too.

Back home in Hungary after her trip to Egypt, Ms. Haszon started an online petition calling on Egypt’s government to prevent cruelty to working animals at tourist sites. As of Sunday, nearly 50,000 people had signed it.

“This area is ‘hell on earth’ for carriage horses and camels,” she wrote. “This horror must be stopped now.”

Amina Abaza, a local activist, said that she regularly received many similar reports from outraged tourists through the Facebook page of her nonprofit, the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt. “I’m not highlighting the abuse to criticize my country,” she said. “But I want to make it better.”

A few years ago, one Swiss tourist was so appalled at the sight of a suffering donkey that she paid 800 euros, or about $900, to have the animal treated and transported to Switzerland. Ms. Abaza intervened, and persuaded the Swiss woman to leave the donkey at her sanctuary south of Cairo.