True for most of the middle east. Egypt is an interesting counterexample, both because tourism is so important for their economy, and because for most of their

True for most of the middle east. Egypt is an interesting counterexample, both because tourism is so important for their economy, and because for most of their history moving water uphill was really expensive, so if you just move a bit off the river valley you can be fairly certain that no-one ever built anything there, so you always have room to develop without having to stumble on ruins.