Tourists who were due to participate in an aquatic exercise class, perform their exercises on the sand instead, at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (Photo: Reuters)
The tourist development authority (TDA) approves tourism investment projects on the Red Sea coast worth some LE3 billion ($0.4 billion).
Following 50 bids, the TDA offered five pieces of land to the winning developers to build five touristic projects in Egypt’s Ain Sokhna and Ras Sedr at a cost of almost LE500 million ($71 million).
The names of the winning developers were not disclosed.
The projects were offered at varied prices.
Ain Sokhna projects were offered for LE1141 ($163) per square metre on a land surface of 120 square kilometres and LE1050 ($150) per square metre for another land surface of 140 square kilometres.
TDA offered the land of a third project at Ain Sokhna, which is planned to become an international recovery centre, at LE 525 ($75) per square metre on an area of 215 square kilometres.
Ras Sedr projects will be established on an area of 323.8 square kilometres at a cost of LE140 ($20) and LE350 ($50) for each square metre.
Egypt aims to reinvigorate the tourism industry, which represents over 11 percent of the state’s GDP, after it suffered a blow in the wake of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's ouster in July 2013.
Currently, several countries have issued travel warnings to Egypt and although red sea resorts were exempt from these warnings, a recent attack on a tourist bus north of Sinai stirred international worries on security conditions in the area.
For its part, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism announced plans to take a series of precautionary measures to bolster security in Red Sea touristic cities.
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