DESPITE continued political instability in the region as a result of the Dahab bombings, Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians, Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon, and the conflict in Iraq, Egyptian tourism continued to grow since its revival two years ago. According to Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garanah, the number of tourists increased by 4.4 per cent in the period between January and November 2006, compared to the same period last year. Tourist nights also increased by five per cent, resulting in a revenue of $7.2 billion compared to $6.4 billion last year. Garanah added that by the end of 2006, the number of tourists who visited Egypt is expected to reach some nine million. Nonetheless, the terrorist attacks in Dahab in April resulted in a two per cent drop in tourist bookings and LE250,000 in losses. The Dahab bombings were the third targeting resorts in Sinai, after the Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh attacks in 2004 and 2005 respectively. According to tourist officials, South Sinai is home to the majority of tourist establishments in Egypt, including 56,000 hotel rooms out of the country's 170,000. The biggest challenge for the tourism industry in the wake of the terrorist attacks was restoring confidence in Egypt as a safe destination, which required the Ministry of Tourism to organise familiarisation trips for travel agents, tour operators and foreign journalists to see for themselves. Egypt has always targeted European travelers, as well as tourists from the USA, Arab Gulf region and lately from Russia and the Benelux. And in 2006, tourist officials launched campaigns in India and China. "These two countries are going to become the most important source markets for international tourism in the next twenty years," according to Ahmed El-Khadem, head of the Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA), "so it is very important for us to be there at the beginning." For that reason, Garanah headed two road shows to those markets to promote Egypt as a tourist destination. Meanwhile, developing the North Coast was the focus of much attention after the announcement of two gigantic tourist projects which aim to turn this area into an all-year tourist destination. Marasi and Almaza will be built by Emaar Misr, which bought a seven km strip of prime tourism real estate on the western Mediterranean coast at Sidi Abdel-Rahman from EGOTH. The company bid $175 million and will spend a further $1.7 million to develop the site near Al-Alamein airport into an international tourism attraction. This year also witnessed the opening of Almaza Beach Resort, the first hotel opening of the mega tourist project Almaza Bay Resort, owned by Travco Group. The massive three million square metre Almaza Bay Resort on the western Mediterranean coast will include five resorts, which will eventually offer the utmost in luxury leisure and recreational facilities. The total capacity of the bay will reach 2,300 guestrooms, in addition to 1,000 residential and tourist villas. Alongside advertising campaigns abroad, for the first time attention was also given to the local market through the launching of a five-year promotional campaign. The National Tourism Awareness Project (NTAP), conducted by the Ministry of Tourism and financed by the EU at a cost of LE100 million, aims at raising citizen awareness about the importance of tourism. According to Garanah, the ministry has a five-year plan to target 14 million tourists by 2011 and build 15,000 hotel rooms annually, which will provide two million job opportunities.
